Fast Times at Odaiba High
by Dream Ablaze
Summary: AU. 02 kids in high school. Most recent chapter: Kari is in hiding from Davis, who has turned stalker after the -platonic- night they spent together. Meanwhile, Kari's best friend is eager to spend a -not-so-platonic- night with TK, and wants Kari's help.
1. prologue:mixed feelings:multiple

_So I know I should be working on my other fics, but I had to add this one. Just because. xD_

_I don't really like fics where the Digital World didn't happen, and the characters don't know each other at first, but this is one. And I had to make them in the same grade, so sorry about the age shuffling. xD_

_Just read it and review. :3_

**::prologue : mixed feelings : multiple pov's::**

:kari:

Ahh, I'm so excited!

Okay, so that was ditzy, but I can't help it. I really am excited about this whole high school thing, and not just because I'm finally enrolled in an actual photography class. No more digital cameras – it's the real thing! With a dark room, and enlargers, and fixer… yeah, okay. I know I talk about photography too much.

Anyway, I'm just excited because there's going to be ALL this stuff you always hear of about high school! Like Homecoming, and Prom, even if, yeah, that's in two years, but oh well, and somewhere along the line I'll get my license… Ugh, and here I am rambling.

Okay, I'm going to try and be mature about this. I will not act like a stereotypical teenage girl who likes pink. I will not shriek and giggle when I see my friends, not that I do anyway.

I'll be leaving to walk to school with my brother, though. Yes! I finally get to go with him! It'll be just like the old days… only better.

Well, here I go!

-x-

:ken:

Okay, I'm all organized and ready, and now it's time for school.

I won't analyze every little thing that happens today, I really won't.

Don't over-think, Ken, for once.

So I'm going now. I can play soccer when I get to school, I always see people playing it before school starts… Now I can.

Let me just double-check to make sure I have everything.

Yup, I do.

-x-

:tk:

I woke up waaaay too early today.

Well, that's a lie. I barely slept last night. I get like that sometimes, like before a big game or something. I just can't go to sleep somehow, I just keep tossing and turning until I get mad and go raiding the medicine cabinet for NyQuil. Not the best sleeping habit, I'm sure, but that's what Matt recommended. Not like he ever gets nervous about anything.

I'm not nervous, really. It's just that…

Okay, yeah, I am nervous.

But can I help it? It's my first day of high school today, and, fuck it, I'm nervous. I don't know anyone except for Matt and some of his friends. Apparently Tai, his best friend, has a little sister my age, but it's not like we're gonna be friends. This school is huge… I'm definitely not used to a big school.

I know, it was my idea to move back here, but I'm kind of regretting it now. I mean, the high school I would've gone to if we hadn't moved was much smaller, and I knew everyone. I had friends and even maybe a girlfriend. I bet we would've gotten together this year if I hadn't wanted to move away.

What a mistake, moving. I mean, was I crazy or what? Yeah, it's nice to live near Matt again, and in Odaiba, but I don't have any friends. It's not like Matt's gonna tolerate me following him around, either. What was I thinking?

Okay, well, I better go. I mean I'm up way too early, but I think I see the sun starting to come up now.

Kill me now, please.

-x-

:yolei:

I. Hate. My. Life.

AS IF IT'S NOT BAD ENOUGH THAT I FAILED ALGEBRA 1 AND FUCKING ENGLISH 1, NOW I HAVE TO REPEAT FRESHMAN YEAR.

UGHH!!!!!

…

So I've come to the conclusion that my LIFE MAJORLY SUCKS and I'm the STUPIDEST PERSON ON THE FUCKING PLANET.

Yeah, you heard me right before, I FAILED Algebra 1 and English 1. Easy classes. My friends all got A's in them. It's not like they're even HARD. I'm just such a fucking idiot!!!!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

So now I have to go back to school as a FRESHMAN. I hate freshmen! I'm not even a man! I'm a WOMAN! Why not call it FRESHPERSON????!!!!!

Oh, right, I know why.

BECAUSE THEY'RE MOCKING ME, THAT'S WHY.

I'm supposed to be a SOPHOMORE. Not a freshman/freshperson! So they're laughing at me and not making it freshperson instead of freshman! To further uninclude me!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!

Is uninclude a word??? UGGGHHH… I don't even know!

I hate school and freshMEN and my whole life and everything in it and all my teachers and English and algebra!!!

Why is there even a rule that says if you fail two classes and then fail summer school for those two classes that you failed, you have to repeat the whole fucking GRADE?

Ugh.

I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-x-

:cody:

Grandfather told me not to be nervous or scared about starting high school so early, but I can't help it. I'm trying to do the mind-controlling exercises he taught me, but they're not going so well. Meditation doesn't always help, I guess.

I didn't even want to skip two grades. I'm so short… everyone will know I'm not supposed to be there. They'll all realize I'm just supposed to be a seventh-grader and not a ninth-grader at all.

I bet I won't make any friends.

Well, there's a kendo club at school, so maybe I'll meet some people in that, but I'm just so shy around everyone that I doubt anyone will like me. I don't talk enough, and people always think I'm stuck-up when I'm really just shy. And they always say I'm so serious…

I wish I laughed more. Then maybe people would like me.

The kids in my own age group don't even like me, why should high schoolers? I bet they'll beat me up and shove me into lockers and everything. It happens in all the movies.

I'm not even that smart, I don't know why they wanted me to skip so many grades. Well, I skipped third grade, and now they want me to skip eighth.

Why did I say it was okay? Grandfather told me to think it over, and decide if I really wanted to or not. I don't, not anymore.

I don't know how to act, and I don't know who to talk to. I don't know my way around the building or anything. I guess nobody else will, but I bet I'll be more lost than them.

I've tried to memorize my schedule. I'm taking classes like algebra and biology, instead of just math and science. And I have some class called 'Seminar Group'. I asked Grandfather what that meant, but he didn't know.

I guess I'd better get going. I'm going to be lost, so I'd better try and find my way around the place.

-x-

:davis:

Aw, crap!

I'm late again… On my first day of high school. Ugh, I'm such an idiot!

Okay, I have to hurry.

But not too much! I mean, I have to make a good impression on everyone, right? Yeah, okay, meaning the girls.

Aw, screw it, I'm going.

I miss the summer.

-x-

_Like it? Hate it? Tell meee. x3 Oh, the next chapters will be singular POVs, starting with Kari and going in the order this was in. (I said Kari and TK were the main characters because they're my favorites. xD)_

_Plus there will be actual dialogue. :D_


	2. one:first seminar group meeting:kari

**::chapter 1 : first seminar group meeting : kari::**

Apparently high school isn't as fun as I thought it would be.

For some reason, I thought we'd start the day doing fun things like planning homecoming and having rallies and eating ice cream. Oh, don't ask me where I got that idea (aka I want to murder Tai). Instead, we had orientation all day.

I thought, okay, that's fine. We didn't have any classes. In the morning, we met with our 'Seminar Groups', whatever those were, to check in, and then we went to hear the principal talk about the school, and then we went back to our Seminar Groups, then we went to have our pictures taken, and finally we had to go back to our Seminar Groups again.

It basically sucked, the whole thing.

I arrived to the classroom my Seminar Group was assigned to. I was pretty early, but there were already two guys in there. They were both pretty tall, and I felt extremely short… I guess one of the things about high school is that the guys grow a lot!

One was a blonde with a friendly face. There were rings under his blue eyes, and he looked pretty pale, like he hadn't been sleeping. He wore the green uniform of our school, along with a weird-looking beigy hat that was almost like a beanie, except not. Kind of hard to describe.

The other guy was sitting there silently. His hair and eyes were dark, and he seemed kind of sullen. He was pale, too, but it seemed natural on him whereas on the blonde it didn't. His hands were folded in his lap, and he sat completely straight, with perfect posture.

They both looked up at me as I walked in. Neither said anything, just regarded me, their eyes intense. It was kind of unnerving, but it was early.

I smiled at them and waved a tiny bit. "Hey, I'm Kari," I said. "Who are you guys?"

"Hi… I'm TK," the blonde guy said, giving me a small smile.

"Ken," the dark-haired one said.

"Nice to meet you!" I looked around. "Um… is there a teacher?"

TK shrugged, and Ken didn't do anything.

"Oh… kay." I sat down in the chair between the two of them. "So I've never seen either of you before, where did you go for junior high?"

"I just moved from Kyoto," TK said.

"I went to boarding school," came Ken's reply.

"Wow, really?" I exclaimed, at both their answers. "That's awesome! I've just lived here all my life… And gone to these school, you know."

TK shrugged. "I used to live here," he said. "But my parents got divorced and me and my mom moved away."

"'My mom and I'," Ken murmured.

TK and I both looked at him. "What?" I asked.

"'My mom and I'," he repeated. "Not 'me and my mom'."

"Oh," TK said, with a strange expression.

Just then, the door flew open and a brown-haired kid walked in.

For a moment, I thought it was my brother Tai, then I realized Tai's hair is much crazier than that. Plus, this one was shorter, and his hair was redder. Plus, I recognized him as a person other than Tai.

"Hi, Davis," I said with a smile. "How was you summer?"

"Hey! Kari!" He grinned.

Okay, so Davis and I weren't exactly friends, but it was nice to see someone I actually recognized and who would actually talk. We'd sort of been acquaintances, but I didn't really know much about him besides he was the soccer star of the school, talked all the time, and wasn't that smart. Oh, and he went out with different girls every week.

Davis sat down next to TK, probably because he was less scary looking than Ken. His eyes were brown and full of expression as he told me about his summer.

"So I went to soccer camp, right, and it rained almost every day! Come on man, it's not supposed to rain during the summer! What's with that?? Yeah, but when we could play, it was fucking awesome. I mean, I wanted to play in the rain, cause it's funner to play soccer in the mud anyway, but the counselors wouldn't let us because they thought we'd get sick or hurt or something… Pfft, like who gives a fuck, right? But whatever, it was still really fun. I got to be captain twice, and both times we won! I always play center forward, you know that, right? Well, whatever, if you didn't, then now you do, huh? Yeah, so it was really fucking awesome. Except for the food, they said we had to eat healthy shit, so we had to eat all this crap like salad and cabbage and whatever it was. I was _dying_! And the drinks, they sucked, man. Like there was water and then these nasty fruit smoothies that had like, poison fruit in them, I don't know, it was nastier than shit! But then on the last night, they surprised us and we got to eat burgers with fries and milkshakes! It was fucking great!" He paused. "Wait, you probably know all about soccer camp, right? You're Tai's little sister! Oh, man! Yeah, he was there. Did he tell you everything already?"

I nodded. TK and Ken both looked kind of taken aback at Davis and his inability to shut up. "Yeah, he told me everything… Like the pranks you guys played on the other cabin." I giggled. "That part sounded fun."

His eyes lit up. "Yeah? It was, man!" He looked to TK and Ken. "Do you guys play soccer? Hey, who _are_ you guys? I've never seen you before."

"That's TK and Ken," I told him, to spare the quieter ones from talking. "TK moved here from Kyoto and Ken was in boarding school."

"Oh, awesome, man! That's fucking awesome! D'you guys play soccer?"

TK shrugged. "Not really… I like basketball better."

"I play soccer," Ken said. "I'm trying out for the team, actually."

"Yeah?" Davis's eyes widened. "What position?" He laughed. "You know what I mean. That wasn't supposed to be like _position_ position – sexual I mean?"

"Uh, yeah, got that," Ken said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Center forward, actually."

Davis's smile faded away. "Dude! No way! I'm center forward!" He realized something. "Wait, that means we're gonna compete…" He leaned back in his chair, grinning lazily. "Yeah, you don't stand a chance. I'm fucking awesome at soccer."

"You say fucking awesome a lot, don't you?" Ken remarked, but Davis didn't hear.

"It's gonna be tough for you to get that place!" Davis challenged. "Are you sure you don't wanna try for goalie or something?"

"Yes, I'm certain," Ken said, looking at him right in the eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to?"

Davis stared at him. "I'm really fucking good at soccer," he said slowly, as if explaining it to someone very young and stupid. "Right, Kari? Tell him how good I am."

I smiled at Ken, a little apologetically. "He _is_ good," I said. "In junior high we won every game because of him."

"Well, tomorrow at tryouts we'll find out, I suppose," Ken said, not cracking a smile.

The door flew open again, with such force that it slammed against the wall. A few of us jumped, and we looked at the door to see two more people. The one in front was an angry looking girl, who'd shoved open the door. Her hair was a lavender color, and her eyes were big and annoyed behind her round glasses. She stomped in and collapsed on the chair next to Ken with a huge sigh, before glaring around at us all.

After her was a short boy – a _very_ short boy – who looked nervous to be there. He didn't make eye contact, and shuffled over, almost apologetically, to sit next to Davis. His hair was short and brown, and his face had a somber expression to it. Next to Davis, he looked comically his opposite. I couldn't help staring at him, wondering about his age, and apparently Davis was too.

"How old are you?" he asked.

The boy reddened, and didn't look up. "Eleven."

That got everyone's attention.

"_Eleven_?" Davis repeated. "How does _that_ work?"

"I skipped two grades." The boy's voice was low and solemn.

The girl who'd slammed the door open made an exasperating sound – kind of like a _growl_. "Well, isn't _that_ nice. Oh, how _lovely_, you got put with all these older kids. You must be real smart, huh?"

"'Really smart'," Ken corrected.

She glared at him. "Shut up, freshman!"

TK stared at her, confused. "Uh… aren't you a freshman too?"

Now she _really_ glowered. "So _what?_ I'm not supposed to be!"

The younger boy looked up a bit in interest. "Did you skip a grade too?"

If looks could kill, he would be torn apart in an extremely gory way. "No, I got _held back_ with you stupid freshman. And an _eleven_ year old!"

The boy cringed and looked back down.

Davis's mouth hung open. "You mean _you_ skipped two grades, and _you_ had to repeat a grade? So an eleven-year-old is as smart as a fifteen-year-old?"

"Way to be tactless," Ken muttered.

The girl was glaring at Davis now, probably wishing him to die a slow and painful death. I felt caught in the crossfire. Soon she would spring into action and slaughter him, then possibly the rest of us. Where was the stupid _teacher_?

I tried to think of something to change the subject, and hopefully the atmosphere. "Um, so, why don't we…" Dammit, I couldn't.

"Compare schedules!" TK exclaimed.

I smiled at him, nodding. "Yeah! Schedules!"

The girl exhaled and angrily zipped open her backpack, then pulled a tattered piece of paper out. "Well, FIRST I have Algebra… ONE." She glared at us all. "Then I have Biology… English ONE…" Another glare. "Then I have – "

Suddenly, the door opened one more time, to let in a young woman. She carried several books, and her hair was long and black. She wore glasses similar to those of the older girl's, and wore a pink sweater and a black skirt. Her appearance was kind of… well, weird. Compared to normal teachers, I mean.

"Sorry I'm late!" she cried. "Hi! I'm Ms. Hall!" She had a strange accent, at first I thought it was American. So did Davis.

"Are you from America?" he asked.

"Uh, well, sort of!" She set down her books on a table and smiled at us. "I'm Canadian!"

"How is that sort of American?" Davis persisted.

"Well, Canada is in North America…" She shrugged.

There was a kind of awkward pause.

"Okay! Welcome to your first day of high school! I guess you're all really excited to be freshmen, right?"

The girl made another growling sound.

"Um, anyway! Why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves! So say your name and what you like to do and what you're excited about doing this year, okay? I'll go first!" She smiled, then pulled a chair over to face our little semi-circle and smiled. "Hi! I'm Ms. Hall, and I like to surf and knit!" This earned her a few odd looks from us, but she didn't really notice. "I'm excited about teaching all of you. This is my first year teaching!" She looked to the eleven year old, who was closest to her on her left. "Your turn!"

"Um, I'm Cody," he said, without looking up. He mumbled when he talked, so we all learned in close to hear him. "I like playing kendo. And this year I'm excited about… uh, I don't know. Being in the kendo club?"

"I'm Davis!" exclaimed the maroon-haired boy without having to be prompted. "I like playing soccer, and I'm just excited about being here, you know? Like I don't know, I mean I'm excited about playing soccer on a real high school team, and being the center forward!" He shot Ken a triumphant look. "Oh, and I'm just, you know, excited to be in high school. Finally! And I'm looking forward to Christmas break and spring break and summer break."

"Great! How about you?" Ms. Hall asked, looking at TK.

"I'm TK, I like playing basketball… I'm looking forward to this year too. I want to see what it's like playing on a school team… My old school was really small, so we didn't have a team or anything." He smiled at Ms. Hall.

"Oh, I love basketball! Okay, you? Oh, I love your clip!"

I touched my hair, then realized what clip I was wearing to pin it back. It was light pink, with a smily frog's face on it. "Thanks! I'm Kari, and I like photography and ballet. And I'm just excited about being in high school and doing all the… uh, high schooly things."

"I love dancing too! Okay, you?"

It was Ken's turn. "I'm Ken. I like soccer and computer programming. I'm looking forward to playing soccer." He glanced at Davis, deadpan.

"And I'm YOLEI," the older girl growled. "I like some stuff, but it doesn't MATTER. What I DON'T like is school! Especially English 1 and Algebra 1! I'm excited about NOTHING this year!"

Ms. Hall looked a little taken aback. "Umm… okay!" She looked at her watch, then grew relieved. "Well, we only had ten minutes for this… But we'll regroup and meet again after the assembly right here!"

Well, my Seminar Group was kind of weird, to say the least, but maybe the assembly would be interesting. After all, it had to be, right? Or else high school would be sort of a let down. And I was hoping with all my being it wouldn't be, after all my expectations.

-x-

_Yes, two chapters up in one day. :3 Okay, well, the prologue wasn't really a chapter, so I had to add something more interesting. Please review! _


	3. two:orientation assembly:ken

**:: two : orientation assembly : ken ::**

After we left our Seminar Groups, we all were herded into the Auditorium to hear what was sure to be some dreadful speech, delivered by a middle-aged, balding man who talks slowly as to try and inspire the students sitting before him. It never works; they're just bored out of their minds.

Ms. Hall went with us, instructing us to sit together: "It says here we're supposed to sit with our Seminar Groups!"

Kari looked distressed. "But nobody else is," she pointed out, as a group of girls waved at her. "Hana's not in the same Seminar Group as Miku!"

Ms. Hall didn't hear her over the loud noise in the Auditorium. "Okay! This is our section, everyone sit down!"

Nobody moved. Finally, Cody went in first, and I followed. TK trailed behind me, and Kari, looking defeated and pale, behind him. Only Davis, Yolei, and Ms. Hall were still standing, and Yolei was glaring at Davis. "Are you going to sit down or not?" she demanded.

He was oblivious to the situation. "Heyyy! Nao! Over here!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "NAO!"

Yolei shoved him into the row of chairs. "Sit down or stop _blocking_ everything!"

He fell into Kari's side, eyes wide. "Woah!" Getting up and staring at Yolei nervously, he sat down next to Kari. Glancing at her, he muttered, "What a psycho, huh?"

"I heard that," Yolei huffed as she sat down next to Davis. Ms. Hall finished our row with a smile.

So far, the day hadn't been very successful. We had met with our dysfunctional Seminar Groups – I was sure the school was going to cancel that 'class' in a week – and then we'd had to come here. This wasn't one iota what my parents had told me it would be like. They had encouraged me to go to a regular, local high school instead of prep school – which was a huge mistake on my part, I now knew. They had told me how colleges prefer seeing students who are at the top of the list instead of just above average, and that the admissions boards didn't like boarding prep schools much anyway. If I had stayed there, then I wouldn't have been able to play soccer to the degree that I could here. And, of course, this way I'd get to be closer to home.

Looking around at this pandemonium, I realized what a mistake I'd made. Was it too late to enroll for prep school this year? Ugh, I knew it was. The application process was over. But maybe if I transferred… Of course, they didn't like transfers, but with my exceptional record maybe they'd make an exception. I'd have to remember to enquire about it when I got home.

Next to me, Cody was sitting silently, staring straight ahead of him. He ignored the chaos around him, like I was trying to do… He was just much better at it. On my right side, TK was listening to the conversation Kari and Davis were having, with a few comments in between. Yolei was sighing angrily to herself and sometimes carnivorously growling. I remembered she'd been held back – maybe she was some sort of a primitive being? The growling certainly seemed to suggest that. Or maybe that was what a year in normal high school did to you. Turned you into a caveman.

There, just ten minutes into this damn thing and I was already thinking in fragmented sentences. Oh, this was utterly depressing.

What could I do? I tried my best to ignore my peril, decided to memorize some more SAT words that night, and turned to the conversation happening next to me. Perhaps it would be enlightening. Then again, I might just be expecting too much from these average students. From what I'd heard so far, neither Davis nor TK spoke correctly, and Kari seemed too bubbly to be bright.

"Tai was telling me about it, actually," Kari murmured. "He's not sure he has much time for it, though, now that he's a senior. But he's going to play on the school team for sure, and probably that one too, if he can manage it."

TK looked at her with interest. "Wait, you _did_ say Tai, didn't you? I thought you mentioned him earlier, when you were talking about soccer camp… Tai Kamiya?"

Kari bobbed her head. "Yeah, that's right. I'm Kari Kamiya." She blinked. "I guess we didn't really introduce ourselves with our full names or anything. Oh well." She smiled. "D'you know him?"

TK nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I'm Matt's brother!"

Kari's eyes lit up. "Oh, wow! I should have guessed that! You look just like him! Woah, what a coincidence…" She thought a moment. "Um, actually, Tai did tell me that Yamato's little brother was moving here and that I should be friends with him… Wow, I feel really stupid."

Davis blinked. "Matt? Like Matt Ishida?"

TK nodded. "Yup. You know him?"

"Dude, _everyone_ knows him!"

Yolei even looked over with interest. "Yamato Ishida? You're his brother?" She looked impressed. "He's _really_ hot."

Kari giggled. "Yeah, the girls all go crazy over him. Tai gets so jealous."

"Everyone knows Tai, too, though. Matt's all aloof and shit, but Tai's nicer, you know?" Davis said.

"Tai? Taichi Kamiya?" Yolei blinked. "He's hot too."

Kari made a face. "Ew, that's my brother… Don't say he's hot! It'll warp my mind!"

Okay, so this conversation was not like the one I'd hoped. Somehow I'd thought that instead of discussing hot siblings, it would be more along the lines of… well, I don't know. Anything productive, I guess. But maybe I'd have to make the conversation go in that direction.

"How did you all enjoy the summer reading?" I asked. I wasn't the best at starting conversations, especially with a group of strangers, but I had to try and make it somehow interesting. After all, they might start talking about something even worse next, and I had to stop them while they weren't quite there yet.

They glanced at me, as if they'd just remembered I was there. Kari gave me a small smile, and TK didn't look completely bored, but Davis rolled his eyes. "Can we not talk about school?"

"Yeah," Yolei hissed. "Besides, that book sucks. Especially reading it twice in two consecutive summers."

Yes, her sentence was fragmented, but who was I to judge? My brainpower was obviously losing steam every second I stewed in this cesspool of ignorance. And she had used the word 'consecutive', which, if I could still do elementary mathematics, was polysyllabic. Yes, she had been held back, but maybe she'd just been lazy. Laziness was better than stupidity, after all.

"You didn't like the book?" I asked her. She'd been the only one to give an opinion on the reading.

"No. I didn't like it last year, either."

"They make each incoming grade level read the same literature each year?" I asked, surprised. It seemed rather archaic, to me. After all, what happens to those who are held back, like Yolei?

"Yeah. You'll all learn soon enough that what this school doesn't have to do, it won't." Yolei still looked annoyed at talking to us, but she seemed rather pleased about this. She answered my questions eagerly. I suppose that even if one hates their situation, any kind of advantage they have over their peers is accepted.

Davis shrugged. "Works for me! That's how I am too, you know? Hey, so, Kari, you going to Kyo's party on Friday?"

Kari frowned. "I dunno, he's having one?"

"Yeah, mostly for upperclassmen, but I got invited." He looked proud as he leaned back in the chair. "If you wanted to go, I could probably get you in."

Kari's eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, that would be awesome! Tai always brags about going to Kyo's famous parties."

"Matt does too," TK added. "Or possibly infamous?"

Yolei snorted. "Stupid freshmen." Everyone mostly ignored her.

As the trivial conversation went on, I turned to Cody. Perhaps he'd be the intellectual refuge amongst all the other babbling idiots? He had skipped two grades, he'd said. That had to make him smarter than an average person. Come to think of it… I thought for a moment, then realized that _I'd_ never skipped even one grade. Did that mean Cody had a higher IQ than me? It was a bit startling, seeing as I'd always thought myself to be… well, highly intelligent. But maybe Cody was too.

"What did _you_ think of the summer reading?" I asked him.

He glanced up at me, but only to confirm that I was, in fact, talking to him. After that, he looked back down to study the ground again. "It was okay."

I waited for him to elaborate, then realized he probably wasn't going to. Oh, well. I've noticed that those who remain quiet are generally smarter than those who talk all the time. After all, the less you talk, the more you hear, and the more you hear the more you learn. I wasn't that big a talker myself.

I'd just have to encourage him to speak. "What classes are your favorites?"

He hesitated, as if a bit wary of answering. "Math," he said.

"What kind, algebra? Geometry? Calculus? Statistics?" I was trying to be amiable, but he just looked at me kind of sharply, like I wasn't supposed to be talking to him.

"I don't know. We did pre-algebra last year."

This was somewhat startling. We had done pre-algebra in sixth and seventh grade, and by eighth grade we were taking Algebra 1-2. I was enrolling for geometry my freshman year at Odaiba High, but all the others seemed to be in Algebra 1.

"You play kendo, correct?"

He nodded, then looked up for a second to ask a question of his own. "Do you?"

"No, not really. I've played it before, but I don't play very often." I cleared my throat, not really knowing what to say. I hoped he'd say something, but when he didn't, I didn't perpetuate the conversation. Instead, I leaned back in the uncomfortable plastic chair and sighed.

To my right, TK, Kari, and Davis were busy talking animatedly. I suppose it is easy to talk when you have nothing important to discuss. They were talking about Tai and Matt again, and Yolei joined in every once in awhile to talk about things the two had done last year.

I was almost glad when the principal finally came to the front and demanded silence.

His speech, as I had predicted, was a conglomeration of clichés, nothing I hadn't heard before. He stressed things like "hard work" and "the right path" and talked a lot about giving back to the school, because it would give a lot to us. He talked about having a mix of students with different interests and backgrounds. He told us he wanted us to be like a family, especially in our Seminar Groups. And he talked a lot about what Seminar Groups are supposed to be.

"The purpose of your Seminar Groups is to offer a small community for you to find refuge in. You meet with your Seminar Groups twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays after morning break. The meetings are a half an hour each. Also, on the last Friday of each month, you will have an hour-long Seminar Group before leaving school. We designed the Seminar Groups to be forms of guidance, because we know how hard it can be to start at a new school, especially high school. On the various retreats, field trips, and other activities this year, you will gather in your Seminar Groups and stay with them. They will be your guidance families!"

_Wonderful_, I thought. _What kind of system is that, to have a 'guidance family' of people I don't even know? Or share interests with?_

At prep school, they never had anything stupid like Seminar Groups.

I basically ignored the rest of his speech. What point was there in listening? I used the time instead to go over my schedule, printed on a piece of yellow paper I held in my hands. Why was I in a freshman Seminar Group if I was barely taking any freshmen classes?

I noticed TK glancing at my schedule as the principal talked, and I glanced at him inquisitively.

"You're taking advanced physics?" he asked, clearly impressed.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yes. What are you in?"

"Biology…"

"Well, I already took biology and chemistry, so I took a placement test to enroll in advanced physics."

"Where did you _go_?" He was clearly astounded.

"Colet Court, in London."

TK stared at me. "London? Like England?"

I nodded. What other London was there? I couldn't look at him now. For some reason, I felt sort of sorry for him. He came from a completely different world from mine, I guess.

"I've never even been there before," he whispered. "Why did you come _here_?"

"My parents wanted me to," I replied. It was the easiest answer.

Kari had been listening, and leaned in over him. "Do you speak English really well then?"

I shrugged. "Yes, I suppose so. I'm fluent enough, at least."

"But you're from Japan, right? You speak Japanese so _well_, you don't even have an accent."

"I was born here, yes."

"He has a little bit of an accent," TK noted. "Just a tiny bit, hear it?"

Kari frowned. "Say something else!"

Ms. Hall leaned over. "Oh, I know you're excited, but please listen to the principal. He's saying something very important."

I glanced at the now sweaty man. He was talking about career opportunities. I sighed and leaned back, but a few moments later TK elbowed me, and I glanced at him. He motioned towards Davis, and I saw that his head was hanging over the back of the seat. He snored lightly, and he seemed to even be drooling.

I wished I could do the same. It was a long, boring, and silent time before the principal finally announced it was time to have our break before reporting back to our Seminar Groups.

Public school was turning out to be wonderful. I didn't know _how_ I'd gone without it for such a long time.

-x-

_Wow, I'm updating this one really fast. xD Well, here we go with chapter 3. I guess it's because these chapters are so short and only from one perspective, I can write a lot in a row. Anyway, please review. :D_


	4. three:back to dtacky:tk

**:: three : back to d-tacky : tk ::**

The good news? The assembly was over. It had been horrible. I won't go into it, but the worst part was that everyone there was wearing the same exact thing – well, color, anyway. The girls were all wearing their uniform and the guys were all wearing theirs, but still. We looked like sheep in the sense that everyone was the same. I guess that's why it's called a uniform – it makes everyone, well, uniform. I like individuality. I was getting strange looks for my trusty old hat, but I didn't care. I'd rather stand out from them than look just like them.

The bad news? We had to go back to our Seminar Groups.

It's not like I hated anyone in my Seminar Group, though Cody had barely said anything and Yolei was… well, extremely intimidating. Ken seemed okay, even if he was kind of… er, what's the word? He'd know it, and would be patronizing about knowing it, which makes him even more defined by the word. Ugh… Come on, tiny vocabulary…

Ah, right. _Condescending._

Anyway, Kari and Davis seemed nice. Especially Kari.

But that's not the point.

I still didn't want to go back to the Seminar Groups because I hate those kinds of things. I wonder if any adults even know how awkward it is for them to put you in a room with random strangers and expect you to "open up" and "become like a family". It just doesn't work that way.

But I couldn't do anything about it, because Ms. Hall was forcing us to go back. We returned to the room, and sat in the same seats as before.

Ms. Hall squinted at the paper she held in front of her. "It says we have to take pictures for the yearbook and your student IDs next, but first we have to pick a name for our Seminar Group and fill out these surveys." She waved a pile of papers in the air.

"Why do we have to have a name?" Davis asked. "Is this like a team or something? Are we gonna play soccer? Can we please?"

Ms. Hall shrugged. "Maybe," she said, though I was pretty sure she had no idea what she was talking about.

"We should combine all our names together!" Kari suggested brightly.

Yolei frowned. "That's so STUPID," she growled.

"Then _you_ come up with something, old lady sophomore," Davis retaliated, sticking his tongue out at her.

"At least I'm not an infantile, immature… little… baby… thing like you!" Yolei screeched.

"Calm down!" Ms. Hall sighed. "Why don't we try Kari's idea?"

Kari smiled and thought a moment, then said "Davistkkencodyoleikari." She had apparently already memorized the names, which was kind of impressive.

Yolei snorted.

"What if we use abbreviations?" I offered.

"DTKCYK?" Ms. Hall tried.

"There's two Ks, so you only need one," Ken brought up. "It can stand for both Kari and Ken."

"DTKCY?" Kari giggled. "This isn't working so well. We need a word to spell out!"

"We don't have any vowels," Cody said quietly.

"I'd like to buy a vowel," Davis grinned, obviously thinking he was extremely witty.

"My name starts with a vowel!" Ms. Hall exclaimed. "Amber."

"TACKY…D," I said.

"D-TACKY!" Ms. Hall chirped. "Wonderful! Our new name will be D-tacky!" She scribbled this onto a piece of paper.

"Wait," chorused four sets of voices (Kari, Yolei, Ken, and me) – people who obviously didn't think that was a good name at all.

Ms. Hall blinked. "I already wrote it down," she said.

"Erase it," Yolei growled.

"It's pen. I think it's a lovely name! Now, here are your questionnaires." She passed out the surveys to everyone who was reluctantly and mournfully a part of D-tacky.

I scanned over the survey and frowned. "What's the point of this?" I asked Kari.

She shrugged. "Tai says this school is insanely organized. They probably want to know everything about their students." She sighed. "Which means tons of paperwork for us."

The survey didn't turn out to be that long, but it was annoying. Luckily, we finished kind of quickly.

"Done already?" Ms. Hall asked. "Well, okay. I have a surprise for you all!"

"Cupcakes?" Kari asked hopefully.

"No, better!"

We all stared at Ms. Hall in expectation. I finally felt hopeful about the day – maybe this would make it all better.

"Well, what _is_ it, already?" Yolei demanded.

"We get to do skits!"

This didn't sound so bad to me, but of course it wasn't what I'd been hoping for (more along the lines of early dismissal, high school diploma, basketball stardom, true love…), but it was better than some things (like paperwork, assemblies, schoolwork…). I checked the reactions of the others to see what they thought.

Kari, who seemed to be an eternal optimist, still looked cheerful even though we weren't getting cupcakes. Davis was grinning his usual laid-back-yet-hyper smile as he leaned back in his chair, hands folded behind his head. Yolei rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and made a huge show of yawning. Ken looked disappointed, and Cody just looked plain scared. He seemed pretty shy, so I could imagine why he wouldn't want to do skits.

"Everyone, get in pairs!" Ms. Hall ordered.

I looked quickly at Kari. "Wanna work together?"

She nodded, at the same time Davis asked, "Kari! Let's be partners!"

She smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry, Davis… TK asked me first."

Cody and Ken had apparently decided they were going to work together, so Davis looked around in hopes of partnering up with someone who appeared from thin air. When he found no such luck, he fell to his knees before Ms. Hall. "Please, beautiful, generous Ms. Hall, be my partner?"

"I'd be honored to!" Ms. Hall exclaimed.

Davis looked intensely relieved. "Thank you, thank you, th – "

"But it looks like Yolei needs a partner," she said. "You can work with her."

Davis fell to the floor mutely, then rammed his head against it several times.

"Davis! You'll hurt yourself!" Kari warned him.

Yolei laughed dryly. "Don't worry, he won't. Nothing to hurt up there, anyway."

Kari and I got a skit called "High School Workload". We read it over in one section of the room, reading our lines aloud. It was a dialogue between two students, one who was having trouble in school and the other who was helping them.

"Did you get the homework for Chemistry class?" I asked Kari, starting the dialogue.

"Yes. Read page three and answer the questions," she read back to me.

"I can't keep up with all these classes! There's too much homework."

"You want to know a tip to help you succeed in high school? There's a lot of pressure to do well in school, and a lot of that is just balancing your work. What you should do is make time for your homework. Don't put it off until the last minute."

"What if there's a good TV show on?"

"Homework first!"

"Okay, thanks!" I finished the dialogue and lowered my script. "That was quick."

"And extremely enlightening," Kari giggled. "I wonder why they make us do this stuff."

"Just pointless busywork, I guess. We all know that we have to set aside time for homework. But none of us do it anyway. It's like some kind of human condition. Humans are always ruining things for themselves because they suck." I was usually optimistic, actually, but I didn't feel like it today. I had woken up too early, and everyone I knew was far away from here.

Kari stared at me.

"Sorry, I'm not some kind of guy who really hates people. Today is just – "

"No, it's okay. You just sounded exactly like one of my best friends!" She smiled. "It was weird, like you were channeling her or something."

"Oh. So do you think people suck, too?"

Kari shook her head quickly. "No way! People may have flaws, but they're still good. They just have to do the right thing. We all have to do the right thing."

I nodded, actually agreeing with her. She was kind of like coffee, waking me up from my morning gloominess. I _was_ actually an idealist; I just didn't really feel like it that morning. "It's the people who don't do the right thing that suck," I said.

"Yeah, but even then they always can. People can always change and do good things, no matter how many bad things they've done in the past!"

This I didn't exactly agree with. "But how does one good thing make up for years and years of bad things?"

She shook her head. "Oh, it doesn't. But it certainly helps, doesn't it!"

I had to agree with her on that. "You know what doesn't help, though? Algebra first period. That has to be some kind of immoral act, doesn't it?"

Kari giggled and nodded. "Definitely. Having algebra _any_ period is immoral. I was horrible in pre-algebra… I failed this one test on square roots. And we got calculators and everything."

"Well, if they were square roots that didn't work…"

She shook her head. "They all worked. I said that the square root of 100 was 3." This made her smile wider.

I liked the way she smiled when she talked about how she'd failed the test. A lot of girls would haven't even have brought it up, but Kari seemed actually to be enjoying making fun of herself. That was kind of… refreshing.

"I have Algebra fifth period." She shrugged. "My new least favorite number! I'll probably get fives on every test."

"Better than getting ones like me," I grinned. "Can I see your schedule? Do we have any classes together?"

We compared schedules, and found that we had PE, Japanese, and English together. I was relieved – at least I'd have one friend in a few of my classes. Or acquaintance, at least… I hadn't known Kari very long, so she wasn't exactly a friend. She seemed nice, though.

But, of course, I missed my real friends, the ones back at my real home. And I missed Mom. She was so supportive of me going to live in Odaiba again after I told her I wanted to. She never liked having to separate Matt and me in the first place, and so only opposed me living with Dad. But since I convinced her it was only going to be a trial separation, and since the school I would have gone to is terrible, she allowed me to come. She acted like she was happy, even, which seemed kind of messed up to me before I left. Then I realized it was just her way of coping with it, telling herself it would be better if I went. When I got on the train to leave, she hugged me, then stood there on the platform and waved until I couldn't see her anymore. There were tears in her eyes, so I know she misses me. But, like she said, Kyoto High is _not_ a good school, and we don't have enough for any private school around. Unlike Ken over there. Condescending Ken.

I knew I was being unfair on him, but I just get jealous sometimes of people who have perfect families. I'm sure his parents are married, happy, and rich. He's probably a spoiled only child who never has to worry about money and never will have to. I bet his parents are still in love with each other, like parents are supposed to be. I bet he's never had his brother taken away from him like I have.

I try not to let my jealousy take over me, so I stopped thinking unfairly about Ken then. Besides, Ms. Hall was talking again.

"Okay, everyone, it's time to go get our pictures taken! We'll perform our skits when we get back! Oh, and we have a short break after we're photographed. Stay in the cafeteria, because snacks will be provided for you!"

"Yesssssss, snacks!" Davis cried, pumping his fist in the air.

Yolei smacked him on the head with her rolled-up script. "Quiet, underclassman."

"Now, now, children!" Ms. Hall reprimanded. "Come on, let's go!"

I stood up reluctantly, then glanced to Kari. She was up, too, and looked much more enthusiastic than I felt. I frowned questioningly at her expression. "Why are you so excited to get your picture taken?"

"I like cameras," she said simply.

Her answer almost made me wince. I hoped she didn't want to be a model. From my experience, everyone who ever wants to model is extremely vain, and I don't like vainness in people. It goes hand-in-hand with selfishness, and selfish people aren't usually very nice.

But I followed her anyway as we all left the classroom like sheep in our uniforms, herded by Ms. Hall – the bouncy, slightly strange Canadian collie.


	5. three point five:questionnaires:multiple

_Hey everyone… this is just a little half-chapter that I decided to include… With all the questionnaires they filled out! x3 You don't have to read it at all if you don't want to, but I think it's a helpful way for both you and me to keep track of all this information… So yeah. xD_

_Next chapter coming soon!_

**:: three point five : questionnaires : multiple pov's ::**

:kari:

_Name of Seminar Group:_ D-tacky.

_Seminar Group Leader's name:_ Ms. Hall.

_Your full name:_ Hikari Kamiya.

_Grade:_ 9 (freshman)

_Age:_ 14

_Gender: _Female

_Hair/Eyes:_ Light brown/maroon

_Favorite color:_ Pink

_What are you looking forward to this year?:_ I'm looking forward to being in high school because it'll be so different from middle school. I'm especially looking forward to all the new classes and activities!

_What do you think you'll be challenged by this year?:_ The workload.

_What are your favorite subjects?:_ Photography and Japanese.

_What are your most challenging subjects?:_ Math and English. And PE, if that counts… yuck!

_Hobbies:_ Photography, dance.

_Pets:_ One cat, Miko!

_Siblings:_ Taichi, older brother

_Anything else?:_ Nope!

-x-

:ken:

_Name of Seminar Group:_ D-tacky.

_Seminar Group Leader's name:_ Ms. Hall.

_Your full name:_ Ken Ichijouji.

_Grade:_ Ninth.

_Age:_ Fourteen.

_Gender: _Male.

_Hair/Eyes:_ Black/indigo.

_Favorite color:_ Indigo, blue, or purple.

_What are you looking forward to this year?:_ This year, I am looking forward to the more challenging classes that this school has to offer. I am also highly anticipating playing soccer at a high school. I believe that this year can be educational and fun if I make it that way.

_What do you think you'll be challenged by this year?:_ I think I'll be challenged by the new environment this year. I don't know anyone here, and this school is glaringly different from my old school, so it will take some adjusting to.

_What are your favorite subjects?:_ The sciences, mathematics (especially trigonometry and algebra), Japanese, English, physical education, etc.

_What are your most challenging subjects?:_ N/A.

_Hobbies:_ Soccer, computer programming.

_Pets:_ N/A.

_Siblings:_ Sam, older brother. Deceased.

_Anything else?:_ N/A.

-x-

:tk:

_Name of Seminar Group:_ D-tacky.

_Seminar Group Leader's name:_ Ms. Hall.

_Your full name:_ Takeru Takaishi.

_Grade:_ 9th

_Age:_ 14

_Gender: _Male

_Hair/Eyes:_ Blonde/blue

_Favorite color: _Green

_What are you looking forward to this year?:_ Making new friends, the "high school experience", and basketball.

_What do you think you'll be challenged by this year?:_ The classes and homework.

_What are your favorite subjects?:_ Japanese, PE, History, English.

_What are your most challenging subjects?:_ Math.

_Hobbies:_ Basketball, writing.

_Pets:_ None.

_Siblings:_ Yamato, older brother.

_Anything else?:_ Nothing.

-x-

:yolei:

_Name of Seminar Group:_ D-tacky.

_Seminar Group Leader's name:_ Ms. Hall.

_Your full name:_ Yolei Inoue.

_Grade:_ …9

_Age:_ 15, thanks for RUBBING IT IN!

_Gender: _Female

_Hair/Eyes:_ Lavender/gold

_Favorite color:_ Red

_What are you looking forward to this year?:_ Nothing

_What do you think you'll be challenged by this year?:_ Everything

_What are your favorite subjects?:_ None

_What are your most challenging subjects?:_ Algebra 1 and English 1. And everything else.

_Hobbies:_ Computers, whatever

_Pets:_ None

_Siblings:_ None

_Anything else?:_ None

-x-

:cody:

_Name of Seminar Group:_ D-tacky.

_Seminar Group Leader's name:_ Ms. Hall.

_Your full name:_ Cody

_Grade:_ 9

_Age:_ 11

_Gender: _Male

_Hair/Eyes:_ Brown/green.

_Favorite color:_ Orange or red

_What are you looking forward to this year?:_ A more challenging curriculum.

_What do you think you'll be challenged by this year?:_ Making new friends…

_What are your favorite subjects?:_ Math and science.

_What are your most challenging subjects?:_ Japanese, PE.

_Hobbies:_ Kendo.

_Pets:_ None

_Siblings:_ None

_Anything else?:_ None

-x-

:davis:

_Name of Seminar Group:_ D-tacky!

_Seminar Group Leader's name:_ Ms. Hall!

_Your full name:_ Davis Motomiya

_Grade:_ FRESHMAN!

_Age:_ 14!

_Gender: _GUY

_Hair/Eyes:_ Brown sorta, but it's also kind of redish / brown

_Favorite color:_ Blue

_What are you looking forward to this year?:_ Playing soccer and I'm really exited to be on the team this year. I play center forward and I'm going to the best soccer player on the team!

_What do you think you'll be challenged by this year?:_ School

_What are your favorite subjects?:_ PE!

_What are your most challenging subjects?:_ Everything! Espeshelly Japanese.

_Hobbies:_ SOCCER!

_Pets:_ None

_Siblings:_ My sister Jun, she goes to privit school because she is too "sensetiv" and needs small clases there

_Anything else?:_ Naw!


	6. four:just smile:yolei

**:: four : just smile : yolei ::**

I knew I was being a bitch, but I didn't care.

The others probably already hated me. Which was good, really. I didn't want to be friends with any of them. They were all freshmen. I was a sophomore – really, I was. The school just kept calling me a freshman, like they couldn't quite pronounce my name right.

So I knew I was being bitchy, but you know what? I had reason to be. I think it would be weird if I _hadn't_ been acting bitchy, really. I hate being a freshman. Who doesn't? All the upperclassmen pick on you and nobody takes you seriously. Plus, all the freshmen are so little and immature and gross.

Well, okay, so I wasn't _that_ much older than them, but still. I was taller than them all except for TK and Ken, and that was just because TK was some sort of basketball freak and Ken was a genius and therefore had somehow become too tall.

I used to be a smart kid. I was the one everyone would come to with their homework, begging me to tutor them. I really don't know what changed. Maybe I stayed the exact same, but all the classes just got harder. Or maybe I just stopped caring about doing well in school.

I have now, anyway. There's nothing to de-motivate you like getting held back. See, that sentence was probably full of ungrammatical crap. I've stopped caring completely.

So I was sick of freshman year number two, but everyone else was still shiny with the prospect of a "fun new school experience". Ugh. I hate that kind of crap. They were all bright-eyed and "yay let's learn" just the same as everyone else is their first day of freshman year. Then everything gets hard and just goes all bad. They'd find that out soon enough. But for now I'd have to deal with their perky annoyingness.

Take right now, for example. Pictures. Basically the bane of my existence. And they were all sitting there in chairs, talking happily and laughing. Okay, so they didn't know what was coming next. But soon they would face the wrath of Buddy, our photographer. And they would be scarred for life.

"Where are those little combs? I need a little plastic comb," Davis revealed, glancing around.

TK laughed. "Can you even get a comb through your hair?"

Davis shook his head. "No, not really."

Kari smoothed her hands over her hair. It was, of course, perfect. The hair of girls like her is always perfect. She adjusted her barrette. "I hope we get to go in soon."

I almost laughed at her, but thought it would be better if they weren't warned about Buddy. That way, it'd be funnier.

"Dude, why? I hate getting pictures taken. I mean, yeah, they _need_ photos of like the hottest guy slash star soccer player of the school, but I don't, y'know, wanna seem vain of anything by trying to look _too_ good in the pictures. You know what I mean?" Davis rambled.

Kari remembered his previous question and answered it without addressing any of the rest (which was a good choice on her part, actually): "I like photography. I don't really like having my pictures taken, but it's nice to be around a professional. Even if I don't really like studio photography either…" She shrugged.

TK looked relieved for some reason. "When you said you liked cameras before, I thought you meant like… being in front of them, not behind them."

Kari shook her head. "No way… That's my friend Miku. She's so pretty, she deserves to be in front of the cameras."

"Woah, woah. Are you saying you're not pretty enough to be in front of the cameras too?" Davis asked, his eyes widening.

Kari blinked. "Er, no. But I mean, yes. Or… no, I wasn't _saying_ that, but now that you mention it…"

I knew how she felt. When somebody asks a person if they thinks of themselves as attractive, they can't say they're not (too negative), and they can't say they are (too conceited). I hate when people ask me that.

"Cause you definitely are, dude. In my opinion you should be the one being photographed, not the one photographing."

This made us all feel a little awkward – probably Kari, especially. However, she laughed dismissively. "Oh, come on."

"No, I'm serious! TK, dude, isn't Kari pretty?"

"Uh, well… yeah…" TK shrugged.

"You guys over there, isn't she pretty?"

Ken and Cody, who had been sitting in silence on the opposite side of the three talkative ones from me, looked up.

"Yeah, sure," Ken said.

Cody's face was red as he nodded shyly.

Davis groaned. "Aww, come on. Those aren't very enthusiastic reactions! Look at this beautiful girl here! I think she deserves a round of applause from our cheering section! Come on, guys!"

"Shut up," I finally told him, sending him one of my best glares.

"She speaks!" Davis gasped. "I thought she lost her tongue!"

"Like I said before, shut up."

Davis ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry you're jealous of Kari. You're okay too, just not as pretty and not as nice. I guess you have every right to be jealous, so I won't tell you not to be. If I looked like you, I'd be jealous of her too."

"Davis!" Kari squeaked. "He doesn't mean it, it's not true anyway – "

"Whatever," I snapped. I've been dealing with this kind of crap for years from guys, it was no new thing now. I knew I wasn't pretty, I had become well acquainted with the fact, and it was no new thing now. So I didn't flip out as much as they probably would have expected me to. But I did do one thing, to mess with Davis' brain (or lack of one). "Hey, Davis, when you put your hands in your hair like that it makes it stand way up on your head. You wouldn't want your yearbook picture to look like you were just electrocuted, do you? Girls don't really like that look."

When I glanced at Davis, I met Ken's eye. He could tell I was just messing with him. But would he reveal it, or not say anything?

Davis's hands flew to his hair. "Huh?"

"Yes, you really should find one of those little plastic combs you spoke of," Ken mentioned.

Davis leapt to the floor and began looking under chairs for a little plastic comb. Ken gave me the tiniest of smiles. It was only a fraction of one, and it vanished as quickly as it had come – so I wasn't even sure if I'd imagined it or not – but it was completely unpredicted and wonderful.

I think that's when I fell in love.

Only, wait. Ken equals freshman. Yolei equals sophomore (in actuality). Therefore???

Ken ≠ Yolei.

I may have failed Algebra 1, but I knew _that_ was true…

-x-

We were still waiting there. My heart was broken, and we were still just sitting there waiting for Buddy. I know he takes forever to take one picture, but still… Another Seminar Group was lining up behind us, waiting for their pictures to be taken too. Seeing other, familiar freshmen of course made Kari and Davis go insane.

When they first entered, Kari smiled. "Kaoru!" she cried, waving. This was about the same time that Davis also leapt into the air. "DUUUDE, HEY!" He was addressing basically everyone, I guess, but probably mostly the other crazy-haired guys who greeted him in the same ebullient style.

A chubby girl with curly brown hair came racing over to Kari. "Kari! Hey!"

"Aww, Kaoru! Come back!" one of Davis's friends called to her. "You're on our team, not theirs!"

Davis brightened at the word 'team'. "Team? Like are we playing – "

"NO, we're NOT playing soccer!" I had to yell at him. "Is that all you ever think about????"

"Pretty much," one of his friends said, laughing. "That and hot girls, right Dave?"

"Aww, come on… What about food?" Davis grinned.

I rolled my eyes. Maybe Kari's interaction was more substantial.

"Kari, you're with Davis?? You're soooo lucky!" Kaoru was gushing. "I know you don't have a crush on him, but I bet you will really really soon if he's in your Seminar Group. These things do _everything_ together… He's so cute, isn't he?"

Kari shrugged. "I guess so, yeah."

"And why aren't you insanely enthusiastic about being in the same Seminar Group as him? If I were you, I'd be screaming and running in circles."

Kari laughed. "I don't know, I don't even think of Davis like that, I guess. Remember that whole thing with him and Miku?"

Kaoru frowned. "What about it? She broke his heart, as usual. So what? That doesn't meant we're not allowed to try him out!"

Kari looked over at Davis. "He doesn't look so heartbroken now," she observed, seeing Davis talking incessantly with his friends.

"Exactly! Time to pounce! Davis is someone who's only gonna stay single for a little while, you know." Kaoru finally looked around at the others in our Seminar Group. "Speaking of single, are you??" she asked Ken.

He glanced up. "Hmm?" He apparently hadn't been listening.

"Are you single?" Kaoru persisted.

"Er, yes…"

This had the effect of nearly making me cry with joy. But I concealed it craftily by examining my nails.

"Wow, really?? That's like impossible!" Kaoru giggled.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to be tied down to some freshman ditz," I growled. Oops. I wasn't going to intervene, I wasn't going to… but of course I had. I was always doing thigns before I thought about them. Way to go, Yolei.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Kaoru demanded. She glanced at Kari. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing, I'm sure," Kari quickly assured her. "Here, want me to introduce you to everyone?"

Interesting. Instead of getting angry as I would have, she just batted the issue away and waved in a new one. I guess she was some sort of pacifist.

Kaoru nodded eagerly.

"That's Cody," Kari said. "He plays Kendo."

Cody glanced up, cheeks reddening. "Hi," he said softly.

"That's Ken. He used to go to a boarding school in England and he loves soccer."

Ken nodded. "That's correct." He seemed impressed - I actually was a little, too. How did she remember all this stuff?

"This is TK," Kari said, patting TK's weird hat. "He's from Kyoto, and plays basketball. He also seems to have a kind of Miku-outlook on life!"

Kaoru giggled. "Uh oh!"

"And this is Yolei. She, ah… knows a lot about the school."

This was kind of surprising. She was a freshman, after all – I thought she would've made fun of me for being held back and try to rub it in my face. But she didn't. She didn't even bring it up. This made me kind of thankful, actually.

"NEXT SEMINAR GROUP, PLEASE ENTER THE CAFETERIA," came a loud, booming voice from inside the cafeteria.

I grinned. Buddy. Sure, I hated him too, but it was worth having to go through him to see the look on everyone else's faces.

We walked in the door, Ms. Hall leading us.

The 'studio' was already set up. A tiny stool sat in front of a pastel-yellow backdrop. Scattered around the huge camera was a myriad of toys.

"OKAY, EVERYONE," Buddy hollered. "I AM BUDDY. I WILL TAKE PICTURES. FIRST, TEACHER. PICK TOY."

Ms. Hall pranced over to him. "Toy?"

"ALL MY PICTURES HAVE TOYS IN THEM. YOU MUST TAKE A TOY."

Ms. Hall laughed. "Oh, but I'm a teacher. I don't think I should have a picture with a toy in it…"

"GET TOY NOW."

Ms. Hall sighed, then bent over and dug through the pile until she found a rag doll. Picking this up, she headed over and sat on the stool.

"Is he gonna make us get toys too?" Davis asked, mouth hanging open. "I don't wanna take a picture with a fucking toy. We're in _high_ school."

"SMILE, TEACHER. TURN YOURSELF TOWARDS ME MORE. AND YOUR HEAD TOO. NO, NO, NOT THAT MUCH. WAIT, MORE. COME BACK, TEACHER. HOLD UP THE TOY HIGHER, PLEASE. NO, HIGHER. RIGHT THERE, IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE. NO, NO! NOT IN _FRONT_ OF YOUR FACE. THEN WE CAN'T SEE IT. LOWER IT. LOWER. LOWER. LOWER. STOP! RAISE IT UP A LITTLE. NO, NOT THAT MUCH. THERE. PERFECT. FREEZE. WAIT, NO. TILT YOUR HEAD TOWARDS ME A LITTLE. THERE. THANK YOU. BEAUTIFUL. WONDERFUL. SMILE. NO, NOT THAT WIDE. WIDER! OKAY, EXCELLENT."

Buddy finally took the picture, and the huge flashbulb illuminated Ms. Hall with light for a second, leaving her blinking and disoriented. She was about to get up and stagger off, but Buddy stopped her with a huge, "NO! STAY THERE! I MUST TAKE FIVE MORE PICTURES!"

The others just stared at him in shock.

"She can hardly _see_," Ken said.

"Who _is_ this guy??" TK asked.

"This is Buddy," I said, grinning evilly. "And it's only going to get worse."

-x-

The others soon saw how right I was (it was nice being right for once). As Buddy doesn't go in any kind of alphabetical order or and kind of order at all, Davis was called up first. I was keenly aware that I was lightly cackling to myself, but I didn't care. The others didn't seem to notice, either. I think they were just too scared of their turn to say much.

Davis had actually warmed up to the idea of the toy, which made sense. Hey, he was immature, wasn't he? He had picked out a blue squeaky plane toy and was holding it proudly beside him as Buddy ordered him around.

"YOU LOOK LIKE A LITTLE DOG. MOVE YOUR FACE TO SEE ME BETTER, LITTLE DOG BOY. THERE, GOOD. NOW HOLD THE PLANE DOWN A LITTLE. EXCELLENT. YOU DON'T MIND IF YOUR HAIR ISN'T ALL IN THE PICTURE, CORRECT? GOOD. OKAY, SMILE, LITTLE DOG BOY."

"Dog boy?" Ken murmured.

"He gives everyone nicknames," I explained, though a little dejectedly. Buddy wasn't acting as bad as he usually is with Davis. Plus, 'dog boy' is probably one of his better nicknames. Why does nothing go as I hope?

After a round of pictures, Davis slid off the chair and Kari was next. She ventured to the pile of toys and found an orange cat stuffed animal. Seemingly delighted at this discovery, she headed back to the stool and sat on it, smiling and holding the cat beside her face.

"WHAT A CUTE LITTLE CAT YOU ARE. SMILE, CUTE LITTLE CAT."

Kari looked confused. "Uh, me?" She glanced at the stuffed animal cat.

"YES, YOU. SMILE. NOW, MOVE YOUR HEAD OVER THERE A LITTLE. HEAD UP. GOOD. SHOULDERS BACK, PLEASE. GOOD. OH, WONDERFUL. SMILE, CUTE LITTLE CAT."

Kari was nearly blinded as the flash went off multiple times in her face. When Buddy was done, she got up and found her way back to us.

"Was he, like, hitting on you? Cause that's like sexual harassment or whatever. Calling you cute and everything." Davis looked concerned.

"No, he does that to everyone," I told them. "He just didn't call you cute or pretty because, well, you're not."

"Well, duh! I'm hot!" Davis grinned.

"PRINCE CHARMING, YOU COME NEXT," Buddy called. "PRETTY LITTLE PRINCE CHARMING WITH THE HAT AND BLUE EYES."

TK, looking nervous, went to have his picture taken.

It went on like this for awhile, until it was my turn.

"AH, IT IS THE QUEEN," Buddy boomed. "I REMEMBER YOU WELL, YOUR MAJESTY. PICK OUT A TOY, PLEASE."

Stomping over, I wished he hadn't pointed out the fact that I'd been there last year. Can everyone please just shut up and go away? Why was Buddy being worse to me than he was to Davis? Nothing was ever fair at this stupid school!

I bent down to rifle through the toys. I didn't find anything I really wanted to take a picture with, so I just settled for a multi-colored wooden block. Carrying it over to the stool and sitting down despondently, I stared straight at the camera. "Okay, ready. Take my picture already, Buddy," I said dully.

Hopefully he wouldn't suggest I just use the one from last year. I hate that one – I'm so happy looking and stupid in it, smiling like a fool, excited to enter high school. Like everyone else in my Seminar Group right now. That picture was me before I failed life and everything, which makes me feel mad and also a little creeped out when I look at it. I look so happy and normal in it, like someone who is actually competent in school. I had no idea at the time it was taken that in a year I'd be in the same place, waiting for a new freshman picture to be taken of me. Just looking at that picture made me want to go back and tell that stupid idiot to get thousands of tutors, abandon all my friends, and study for hours every night, whatever. Just tell her to do whatever it took to pass those classes, so I wouldn't have to be here right now.

"LIFT YOUR HEAD UP. SHOULDERS BACK. DON'T SLOUCH. GOOD. TILT YOUR HEAD THIS WAY A LITTLE? YES, GOOD. HOLD UP THE BLOCK HIGHER, PLEASE. YES. AH! PERFECT! NOW SMILE, YOUR MAJESTY!"

I gave him a small smile. It was enough to be a smile, but not nearly enough to suggest I was happy.

"SMILE, YOUR MAJESTY!"

I tried to make it bigger, but it was kind of hard.

"JUST SMILE!"

It was harder than it seemed. But I finally did my best to beam at him, and he shot the pictures so fast that the light from the flash danced in my eyes like shooting stars.

I was done with my picture, and as soon as I got off the stool, my smile slipped away completely and I became the sulking, morose person from before.

When Buddy was done with all the pictures and printed out our school IDs, I stared at mine for a moment. It didn't look like me. I was smiling hugely and falsely. I never like to fake smiles – I always act however I want, not caring if I'm being bitchy or not. So the fake smile was a new thing for me. To someone who compared this year's ID to last year's, they might seem the same. But when I saw it, I could see how different a person I was. The eager, grinning, naive Yolei of last year was gone, and in her place was me.


	7. five:orientation break:cody

**_Updates: _**_I changed the rating on this story to T because I think it fit that rating better than it fit M. If you think this isn't true, please let me know why. :3 After all, T means 13+ and everyone in the fic is 14 (well, except for Cody and Yolei xD), so nothing in it will be anything 14 year olds wouldn't do. For now (unless someone objects) it'll stay T, but maybe as time goes on and they get older, I'll change it to M. :3_**  
**

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon. If I did, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic about it. ;D_

**:: five : orientation break : cody ::**

Unlike most of the kids there, the part of the day I was most dreading was the fifteen-minute break. Yeah, I know I'm weird, but I'm not good at making friends and so therefore not good at talking to random people either. At anything considered "social", I mostly stand to the side and just observe people. I try not to be too much of a loner, but I can't help it sometimes.

This is also what I did at the orientation break.

It was in the cafeteria after all the Seminar Groups had had their pictures taken and the insane Buddy had left. All the cafeteria workers had brought out snacks for us to eat, and the whole freshman class was jammed into the large room. Everyone knew everyone else, and they were all hugging each other and running around and laughing.

Luckily, I wasn't alone. I stood near a window with Ken, TK, and Yolei. I was just thankful that they didn't have any friends in the freshman class either. And we didn't look too weird, because TK was actually talking to us.

"I can't wait for this orientation thing to be over," he said. "What are you guys doing after school?"

"I'm going shopping with my friends. My _real_ friends. Who are sophomores," Yolei growled.

"Kendo practice," I said quietly. I wasn't really sure if he was asking me or not, but I had decided to answer anyway.

"I'm just going home," Ken said. "My parents will doubtless have made me a snack and will want to hear all about how my day was." His voice suggested that he wasn't enthusiastic at all about this.

TK made a face. "That doesn't sound so bad," he said.

"It's worse than bad. It's positively horrible. They're such irritating people, so concerned about me all the time. It gets quite tiresome."

"Well, they must be glad that you're back from boarding school," TK said.

"I don't see why. I'm sure they didn't miss me the slightest bit."

"That's not true… I'm sure they missed you a lot. It's so hard for parents to be away from their children."

Ken shrugged. "It's annoying, anyway. I wish they'd just leave me alone."

TK stared at him. "That's funny… that's like the opposite of what I'd say."

"My family is always everywhere, too," Yolei said dully. "Everyone in it is kind of really insane. I wish they'd get out of my life already."

TK laughed, though to me it seemed kind of strained. "Well, I guess we are supposed to be growing apart from our parents… Cody, what are your parents like?"

Crap. I was scared that someone would ask me. It was better to just avoid part of the question. It wouldn't be lying, right? I hated lying. My grandfather always told me never to lie. "My mom is really protective," I said. "And she always has chores for me to do."

TK nodded. "My mom's not protective, but I always have jobs to do around the house."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "At least you don't have parents who own a convenience store. They make me work there all the time. My family's so big that we have to eat all our meals in shifts, like my dad and some of my siblings will be working while my mom and the rest of us eat, and then we switch."

TK laughed. "That sounds kind of fun, actually."

There was a little bit of an awkward silence.

"It seems that we're the only students here who don't know everyone," Ken said, watching people run into each other and hug.

"Are we really the only new freshmen?" TK wondered. "All in the same seminar group?"

Yolei shrugged. "Don't ask _me_," she snapped.

"Uh, I wasn't."

Suddenly, a group of girls appeared next to me. I looked to see Kari and two of her friends. One was Kaoru from before, and the other one was new. I couldn't help but stare at the especially beautiful blonde girl who wore the school uniform like everyone else but somehow stood out. Her head was raised confidently, and she had a smile on her face.

"Hi everyone!" Kari said. "These are my two best friends. You already met Kaoru, but here's Miku." She smiled. "And these are Cody, TK, Yolei, and Ken."

Miku smiled. "Nice to meet you," she said lazily. "I hope we Odaiba kids aren't scaring you with all our noise. You're probably not used to it, hmm?"

Kari remained smiling. "Actually, Yolei and Cody are from here too. Ken and TK are the only ones from out of town."

"Oh? Where are the two of you from?" Miku asked, looking between TK and Ken.

TK spoke first. He seemed very enthusiastic. "I'm from Kyoto," he said. "But I moved back here to live with my dad and my brother Matt. Maybe you know him? He's a senior. Yamato Ishida?"

Miku raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Matt and I are old friends through the Kamiyas. I should have guessed you two were related. You certainly have his good looks."

"Uh, thanks!" TK said with a huge smile.

"And what about you?" Miku asked Ken.

"I went to boarding school in England," he said simply. Unlike TK, he didn't seem fascinated with Miku. I thought she was irritated for a moment, but I couldn't be sure.

"Well, it was very nice to meet you," Miku said. "Especially you, TK." She winked at him. "I guess I'll see you around, hmm?" Before anyone could respond, she walked off. "Come on, you guys," she said. Kari and Kaoru waved and hurried after her.

"I remember her," Yolei said. "Ugh."

"I concur," Ken said, shaking his head.

"What's so bad about her?" TK asked. "She seemed nice."

"Nice?" Ken repeated. "She's too self-absorbed to be nice."

TK shook his head. "Naw," he said. "She came all the way over here just to say hi to us and welcome us to their class. She has to be nice."

"Looks like someone has a crush," Yolei said, snorting. "See how far that goes."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

There was another silence.

Okay, Cody, be brave, I told myself. You can do this. Remember what your dad always told you? Everyone is just as shy as you. It's hard for them to make conversation too. If they can do it, so can I!

"What's England like?" I asked Ken.

He stared at me for a second before speaking. "Nice," he said. "I liked the food. Some of the buildings remind me of castles – those that aren't actual castles, anyway. But the whole culture is very different from here."

"Is it true that in England an English muffin is just called a muffin?" Yolei asked, a determined look on her face.

"I don't know. I don't think so, since I got a muffin once," Ken said.

Yolei looked dejected. "Aw man," she said.

_Okay_. _I talked before. I can talk again._

"What store do your parents own?" I asked Yolei.

"It's just down the street… Y'know, the one right outside the park?"

I actually did know what she was talking about, and I nodded. "My grandfather goes there a lot, actually. I live in the apartment next door."

Her eyes widened behind her glasses. "No kidding! I live there too!"

TK snapped out of his Miku-induced daze for a moment. "Really? I do too…"

Yolei nodded repeatedly like a bobble-head doll. "Oh yeah! Sometimes I walk home with Yamato!" She seemed to realize she was acting too enthusiastic, and became her more moody self again.

With TK still stunned, Ken almost snobbishly silent, Yolei reverting to her I-hate-being-a-freshman attitude, and me being the shyest person on the planet, we became a silent group once again. I just couldn't come up with anything more to say, despite my mother and grandfather's urgings that it wasn't so hard to initiate conversation. I had tried, but it _had_ been hard. Why was I so quiet all the time? Why couldn't I act like Davis, or Kari, or TK? Even Ken and Yolei seemed more social than me, and they were the ones distancing themselves from the group the most. Well… maybe I was. I wasn't sure. I just knew that I didn't want to try and make the break less awkward with small talk, especially when I was incapable of _making_ small talk.

Was it really strange that I was relieved when the bell rang and we headed back to our Seminar Group?

-x-

_Sorry it was a little shorter than the others. But at least I updated, right? xD Please review! Next chapter will be Davis!_


	8. six:skits:davis

Hi everyone. :3 Thank you for all your reviews! So here's Davis's chapter... I know there are a few grammatical errors, but that's because it's from his point of view and Davis doesn't seem to me like a person who would talk or think in perfect English (or any English at all, but, um, you know what I mean xD). Anyway hope you like the chapter!**  
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**:: six : skits : davis ::**

The bell rang for the end of break, which sucked. Me and my friends stayed in the cafeteria for as long as we could until this ugly teacher with a pinched nose and an old lady dress came over and basically pushed us out the door. So much for a close-knit community!

I was forced to wander back to my Seminar Group (wander, because I didn't want to go back and so took my time). I mean, it wasn't so bad, but that Yolei girl seemed insane and neither Ken nor Cody really talked much. Besides, it was too much like school. I was starting actual school the next day, and will probably in the future live for Seminar Groups in a real school day, but for now I didn't want to go.

What actually got me going back was the thought that someone might steal my chair next to Kari, which wouldn't be good. I'd known her for a long time, but she seemed different today. I wasn't sure how until I got back to the Seminar Group. D-Tacky.

Everyone turned to look at me as I came in. "Sorry I'm late!" I called. "Tardiness is detrimental to the learning experience, I'm only hurting my own education, blah blah blah." I flopped into the seat next to Kari. Luckily, nobody had sat there.

I glanced at Kari, who was smiling a bit. I grinned back, suddenly realizing why Kari seemed different to me. She's _cute_. Okay, so she always has been, but this year especially. Why hadn't I ever noticed that before? I guess she was always with her friend Miku (also my ex), who I swear is a goddess. In her looks, anyway. She's just so cold.

Maybe I should go for warmer, nicer girls? Girls who aren't The Hottest Girl in the Universe but are instead Reasonably Cute? Girls like Kari?

"I'm glad you're back, Davis," Ms. Hall said. "We were just about to start our skits without you."

"Skits?" I asked, completely oblivious to what she was talking about. Then I remembered. "Oh! Skits!" Casting a glance in Yolei's direction, I tried to remember what our skit was about. We actually hadn't rehearsed it. I'd mostly ignored her as she bitched on and on about how she hated me. Whatever. I'm _Davis Motomiya_. I live in the moment! And it was a new age! No more Mikus! Now it would be all Karis! Well, okay, just one Kari.

"Since you're so enthusiastic, why don't you two go first?"

Yolei looked like she wanted to kill me. But that was pretty much how she always looked. It was like that old lady expression where if you make a face, you'll get stuck like that. Yolei's face had gotten stuck with this evil kind of glare that would probably make lesser guys wet their pants. Not me, though. I was pretty fearless. You have to be if you're good at soccer. Some of those guys are like a thousand feel tall and a million pounds of all muscle. I mean, I'm pretty buff, but those guys are just insane.

"Sure!" I said, shooting a grin in Yolei's direction.

"You are _so_ going to die," she growled.

-x-

Luckily Ms. Hall let us use our scripts. It would have been so awkward if I wasn't Davis Motomiya, who lives in the moment and doesn't get embarrassed by anything!

"Hello." Yolei spoke angrily, with her teeth gritted. "How are you."

"I'm fine," I replied with a big smile. "Want some drugs?"

Yolei dropped her script. "That's not in the script!"

I shrugged. "Yeah it is."

Yolei, flustered, picked her script back up and stared at it furiously. "What kind of a skit _is_ this?"

"Just read your line," I told her. This was kind of fun.

Yolei hesitated, glaring at me. Then she reluctantly glanced back down at her script. "Drugs. Why do you have drugs in a learning establishment."

"Those are supposed to be questions," I told her. "Come on, Yolei! Have some emotion when you say it!" I smirked at her, having too much fun messing with her to realize she was about to kill me.

"DRUGS? WHY DO YOU HAVE DRUGS IN A LEARNING ESTABLISHMENT?" Yolei shrieked at me. "DON'T YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR THE SCHOOL? I mean, come on! How dumb can you be? Okay, whatever, so you're a junkie outside of school, but why would you ever bring them with you to school?!?!?! Are you trying to get expelled and sent to juvie? I know drugs kill your brain cells, but how can you possibly be that absolutely idiotic?"

I stared at her, as did everyone else. Apparently, Yolei had a lot of emotion when she wanted to. "That's not in the script," I finally managed to say.

Yolei was breathing heavily. She hadn't taken any breaks to breathe during her monologue. Ms. Hall was staring at her, but for some reason she didn't seem scared. Actually, she looked almost like she admired Yolei.

"Great acting!" Ms. Hall said. "Wow, Yolei. You're meant for the stage!"

Yolei just blinked at her. "Huh?"

"You are right. I should not have brought drugs to school. In fact, I should not have them at all," I finished up the skit. "I will now get rid of them in a safe and appropriate manner."

Ms. Hall was still beaming at Yolei. "Let's give them a round of applause!" she cried.

Everyone else started to clap. Yolei still looked stunned. But she must have been surprised, cause it wasn't like she did anything good. They were all clapping for me. I, unlike Yolei, knew I was great, and I bowed to them before sitting back down next to Kari. I looked at her, expecting her to praise me. Instead, she leaned over to tell Yolei she should try out for the fall play.

Why was _Yolei_ getting all this special attention? She wasn't even following the script! She was just acting on her own psychotic feelings.

Naturally, when TK and Kari were done, I applauded loudly and told Kari what a good job she'd done. That way, she would see how nice and wonderful I had become over the summer. Hopefully she thought it was an improvement. I wasn't actually sure if I had become nicer and wonderfuller over the summer, or even if 'wonderfuller' was a word, but whatever.

She looked kind of embarrassed. "You did a good job too," she said quickly. "I was going to tell you so, but I… um, forgot."

I shrugged. "It's cool," I told her with a grin. "I'm really understanding."

She stared at me, then bobbed her head a little. "Yeah, okay," she said with a confused smile. Then she turned back to TK to laugh over what a terrible job they'd done. Maybe she wanted me to think she had done bad?

"Yeah, yours was pretty bad," I told her, trying to join in their conversation.

She looked confused again, probably because I had just complimented her on her acting skills a few minutes ago. But it was only for a second, and then she smiled again. "Guess I have no great acting career ahead of me, huh? Unlike Yolei!"

Cody and Ken's skit was pretty boring. Cody's face was bright red, I guess cause he was shy or something. And Ken looked bored. Which was normal, since the skits were pretty boring after all.

"Good job!" Ms. Hall told them when they were done, though. "Wow, we finished quicker than I thought we would! Um…" She shuffled through her papers. "Well…" She looked flustered. "Give me a few minutes, okay?"

TK began talking to Kari again. Why was he trying to take up all my talking time with her? He seemed cool enough, but he was obviously clueless! Then, a thought came to me. Did TK like Kari too? Ugh, he better not!

"So… uh, what kind of stuff does Miku like?" TK was asking her.

Kari shrugged. "Oh, y'know. Normal stuff. How come you're so interested in Miku all of a – " The realization dawned on her at the same time it dawned on me. "Ohh, I get it," she said, giggling. "You like her, don't you?" I was relieved.

TK opened his mouth to protest. "No, of course not! I just met her! I only _like_ her." He blinked. "Um…"

Ken actually seemed interested in this conversation, or at least more interested than any of the other ones. "Freudian slip, hmm?" I heard him mutter. Yolei snorted.

TK sighed. "Okay, fine, I do," he said, trying not to smile.

"Don't worry, guys always tell me when they like her. You're probably like the fiftieth one to tell me." She turned to me, answering all my prayers. It didn't matter she was talking about my ex. "Davis went out with her. Right, Davis?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I did. She wasn't my type though. I like a different kind of girl now," I told Kari.

She didn't seem to get the hint. Maybe I'd have to be more blunt? I mean, subtlety wasn't exactly my strong suit. But I didn't want to be like TK just was… I wondered if I should ask Kari out. Okay, so I had just started liking her about a second ago, but whatever. That was usually how fast I asked girls out. And about how fast we usually broke up. But Kari was different than all those other girls… I didn't know how to explain it, but she was. That nagging thing in the back of my head told me that I said this same speech to myself every time. But I just ignored it. Okay, so how to ask Kari out?

It wasn't like I was lacking any self-confidence, but I wanted it to be something she wanted to do. No matter how good-looking and how much of a great personality I had, Kari would probably reject me if I asked her out for McDonald's or something. But then again, it was good to have a girl who you could be comfortable with anywhere, right? Still, I wanted our first date to be special… Where was a place she wanted to go?

Then, it hit me. Kyo's party, of course! I had tried to impress her earlier by telling her I could try and get her in. I hadn't really been serious, but now it was a definite possibility. I mean, I _could_ get her in. And that would count as a date, right?

Yeah, definitely a date. Kari was smart. She would know that I was asking her out. It wasn't like I'd have to make it really obvious. And she had wanted to go to Kyo's party so much! I'd have to convince Tai to let me take her, though. And he'd probably still be looking out for her the whole time, I realized with dismay. But whatever, I'd still get to go out with her!

I was determined to do it as soon as possible. "Hey, Kari," I said. "Do you want to – "

"I found it!" Ms. Hall said, interrupting me. "I have to read this to you before orientation is over, which will be in about… erm, twenty seconds. I'd better hurry!"

I hadn't realized the time had gone by so quickly. I guess that's how it was when you were with Kari! Okay, I'd ask her out as soon as the stupid orientation was over.

"You are probably now better acquainted with your high school, now that your orientation is over," Ms. Hall read. "But if you still have more questions, go ahead and ask any faculty member! You will get your guidance counselors soon. And welcome to Odaiba High, freshmen!" She paused and I could hear Yolei growling again. I swear, she had some serious problems. "That's it," Ms. Hall said, but the bell droned out her last two words so that I almost couldn't hear them.

Yolei, TK, Kari, and I sprang up, and the other two were a bit slower. Finally, orientation was over! And soon I would have a date with Kari, the just-now-realized girl of my dreams!

-x-

Hope you liked it! Please review!


	9. seven:catfight at kittie:kari

Thank you to all my reviewers! And sorry to all the Takari fans who have to suffer through Miku... xD

Hopefully this chapter gives you an idea of what she's like. ;D

**:: seven : catfight at kittie : kari ::**

Was orientation really over?

The bell had rung, but I still couldn't believe it. Was that really it? I was still clinging to the hope that ice cream would be served, kittens would be passed out to everyone, and a huge school-wide party would start. But, oh well. I was going shopping with my best friends in the whole world (we could get ice cream), I already had a cat (didn't need another kitten), and as for the party… Well… Okay, so I had no way of covering that one.

Davis, however, did. We were all leaving the class, happy that the day was over. Yolei stomped out first, mumbling something under her breath about how the sophomore and freshman Seminar Groups were so far away from each other. Then Davis, TK, and I left, all talking about how glad we were that orientation was over and now we could go home.

"Kari, you still wanna go to that party on Friday, right?" Davis asked suddenly.

I looked at him oddly, remembering that this was how he had asked _Miku_ out. But Davis wouldn't be interested in me, of course. He was just a nice guy, as Kaoru constantly reminded and Miku shrugged off.

"Yeah! Of course!" I said, smiling. "D'you think I could bring my best friends too?"

Davis's face fell for a second, but then he shrugged with a lazy smile. "Uh, yeah, no problem! Kyo won't mind."

TK was still with us, silent now that this exchange was taking place. I felt kind of bad. Of course the fact that he was probably the nicest guy I'd ever met was an adding motivation for what I said next. "And, of course, TK can come too, right?" Okay, and he was pretty cute too. Wait, no, I couldn't think like that. TK liked Miku, remember? Why did she always get all the cute guys? Oh well. I'd find out if she liked him later today when we went shopping.

TK glanced up and at me, surprised. His blue eyes were so pretty… _Okay, Kari, stay focused here_, I had to tell myself. _Did you really just think that? Miku, Miku! _But Davis bit his lip. "I dunno," he said. "I mean, Kyo's up for all his friends coming, and all the girls they want to bring, but I'm not sure how he'd feel about other guys coming."

"Kyo has like a thousand people come to his parties anyway. Are they really all his closest friends?" I laughed.

Davis nodded. "Yeah, he's, like, crazy popular."

"Well… Kyo and Tai are really good friends from soccer. And Matt hangs out with them a lot too. And TK's Matt's brother."

Davis shrugged, grinning. "Okay, sure! Just make sure you let people know you're Yamato's brother. What'd you call him, Kari? Matt?"

I forgot that people didn't always know who I was talking about when I called Tai's best friend by his nickname. Of course TK did, but probably not Davis. I nodded to him. "I've known him all my life, pretty much," I said. "He's always coming over to hang out with Tai." I looked to TK. "This'll be fun, huh?" I asked, already getting excited. "One day in high school and you're already invited to the party of the year."

TK grinned at me. "Thanks," he said.

"Actually, more like party of the week," Davis corrected. "I mean, Kyo has them all the time."

We had finally exited the building and were in the large front area of the school. It was like a repeat of the break in the cafeteria, with all the freshmen running around. I was so jealous that Tai got to sleep in today.

"Oh! There's Miku. And Kaoru," I said, waving to them across the crowd. "See you guys later, okay?"

"Seeya, Kari!" Davis called. "You too, TK."

"Bye," I heard TK said to Davis. "Hey, um, Kari?"

I turned around at hearing my name. "Yeah?" I asked.

He was glancing down at the ground, his cheeks red. "You won't tell Miku what… um, I said, right?"

I shook my head. "Nope! Hey, do you want to walk to school with me tomorrow?" It wasn't like I was asking him to walk with _me_ or something. I always walked to school with Miku, and… yeah.

He looked up at me. "Yeah, sure!" He looked happy. "I think Matt was talking about how he was walking with Tai anyway. I can just come with him…?"

"Okay! Yeah, they always walk together. I always walk with Miku and Kaoru too."

"Really? Miku will be there?" His eyes were wide. "Um… cool," he said, pretending he wasn't as excited as he'd looked a second before.

I didn't know why I felt so disappointed. Wait, no! I did! I liked TK – meaning as a friend – and I knew that Miku always hurt guys. I didn't want to see TK hurt. That was all.

"I have to go now… Seeya tomorrow, right?"

"Right!"

"Bye, TK!"

"Bye!"

I ran off towards my friends. Miku was waiting impatiently, hands on her hips, and Kaoru just looked excited. She always got like that when we went shopping.

"You're not trying to steal my latest catch away from me, are you?" Miku asked once I got to them.

"Huh? Oh, no… So you're interested in him then? I thought you might be. I was just inviting him to walk with us tomorrow." Why did I feel like I always had to explain things to Miku?

"Good," she said. "And yeah, I guess I'm interested. He has such a nice butt, doesn't he?"

My face turned red, like it did when Miku talked like this. "Come on, let's go shopping already!" It wasn't fair; she was just interested in him all of a sudden?

"No, she's right," Kaoru said, giggling. "Oh my god, he's so cute. I'm so adding him to my list of ten hottest hotties. And that Ken guy too. I guess I'm gonna have to bump off two guys…"

"Make it Akito and Rei," Miku said lazily. "They were never that hot anyway."

"Okay!" Kaoru said, nodding eagerly.

Miku is definitely the leader of our little group. Whatever she says goes. It's not like she's bossy or anything, she just has this way about her that makes Kaoru and I want to do what she tells us to. I guess we both really look up to her. She's basically perfect… I wish I could be like her. We've been friends since sixth grade but every time I buy something new or listen to new music, I wonder what Miku would think. If she wouldn't like it, I don't either. I think Kaoru's the same.

"Come on, let's go," Miku said, turning around and starting to walk towards the mall. I prefer smaller shops myself, but Miku and Kaoru love the mall, so we always go there to shop.

Kaoru jumped in the middle of us and linked arms with both Miku and me. "I'm so excited!" she said. "I brought tons of money with me. And I saw the cutest new sweater at Olly."

"Olly?" Miku repeated, nose crinkling up. "Kaoru, you know that's not where high schoolers shop. That's where all the middle school kids go."

"Duh," Kaoru said quickly. "I mean, the sweater wasn't that great anyway. I just meant it was cute, but not for me. For like a baby."

"We should go to Kittie," I said. I hoped Miku would approve of that store.

"Definitely," Miku said.

I beamed. I always feel better when Miku approves. Except when she approves of guys I like, of course. Because that only means that she's going to make them hers. And unfortunately, Miku and I have nearly the same taste in guys.

-x-

When we got to the mall, we went to Kittie first. Miku made us go to her section first. Her section being the one for all the incredibly skinny and incredibly tall supermodel types. Kaoru and I are both shorter, though she's a few sizes bigger than me usually. I'm thin, but not really skinny like Miku.

She grabbed heaps and heaps of clothes. Kaoru and I watched eagerly to see what kind of styles she was into this year. Or today, anyway. She pulled out mostly miniskirts and tiny tank tops, and I was relieved to see that her fashion sense hadn't changed much since the last time we'd gone shopping. Or maybe I wasn't relieved? I would've preferred her to like something a little more… well, something that didn't show so much skin. Miku always tried to get us to wear the same kind of stuff she did, and she usually got away with it. I'd just rather wear something else.

She hauled her pile of clothes to the changing area and started to try it on. Outside, Kaoru asked me, "Wait, you were with Davis and that new blonde guy today when you came out? How'd that happen? Are you and Davis like best friends now?"

I smiled. "No," I said. "Oh, but I have great news! I forgot to tell you guys earlier, but – "

"What, did TK tell you he likes me?" Miku called from the dressing room.

"Uh… what?"

"I know he does. Is that the great news?"

"Uh, he…might…not!" Good job sounding believable there, Kari. But you told him you wouldn't tell her…

Miku yanked the curtain away from the doorway. "Kari, please. I'm your best friend. You can't keep things like this secrets from me."

"Er… er…" I had no idea what to say, so I commented on her outfit instead. It was a purple mini skirt with a matching tube top. "I love that outfit!" I said.

"What, this? Ugh, Kari, come on. I'm just wearing this to be ironic. You _know_ that you can't wear a top the same color as a skirt or pants. The only time that can possibly work is when you have a blue shirt and jeans, and the top has to be a different shade of blue than your jeans."

"Um… Yeah, okay. Duh!"

Miku stepped back into the changing room. "But TK likes me, right?"

I looked at Kaoru for help. She didn't. Instead, she called back to Miku, "Yeah, he likes you. Of course he does! He _so_ told Kari." I glared at her.

"Thank you," Miku said. "Now, what's this I hear about Davis? Kari, is he trying to get back with me? Cause I've so moved on. To TK, remember?"

"I don't think he is," Kaoru said. "I think he has a thing for Kari!" She giggled.

"What? _Davis_ like _Kari_?" Miku laughed. "I don't think so. She's not his type."

I frowned, kind of annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean? What's his type?"

"Ooh, so interested in Davis!" Miku said. "I think you have a crush on him. Is that why you think he likes you back?"

"I don't think that! And I don't like him!"

"Chill, Kari. I know you go for taller guys. But I just want to let you know that if you want to go out with him, you totally have my permission. No grudges or anything. I mean, I dated him like way back at the beginning of eighth grade. And even then, it wasn't like I was that into him. He was a terrible kisser." She stepped outside the dressing room in a new outfit. "But don't worry, maybe he's gotten better. Not like you'd know what a good kisser's like, right?"

Okay, so I'd never been kissed before. But nether had Kaoru! Why couldn't she pick on her instead?

"Anyway, I was trying to tell you guys they we get to go to Kyo's party on Friday!" I told them finally. Kaoru stared at me, then squealed and jumped up and down. Miku's reaction was a little more subdued.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Davis invited us," I explained. "TK's going too."

"That Davis is definitely trying to get back with me," Miku smirked. "He's just trying not to make it seem like a date by inviting you guys too. So typical Davis."

I didn't feel like telling her that wasn't how he'd asked me. Maybe she was right and Davis was just assuming that I'd ask if I could bring my friends? That was probably it.

"Kaoru, please, contain yourself," Miku said. Kaoru obeyed and Miku continued: "We could have gone anyway. I was planning on it. It's not like I couldn't get my own invitation without Davis and his stupid soccer connections."

"Well, it's nice of him, anyway," I said.

"Yeah, _really_ nice!" Kaoru said, raising her eyebrows at me. I just shook my head.

"TK's going, hmm?" Miku said, thinking. "Maybe I'll make my move on him then. I bet he's a good kisser, unlike Davis and his stupid tongue everywhere."

"Let's get outfits for the party!" Kaoru exclaimed.

I nodded. "Yeah!"

"That one is really cute," Kaoru gushed. Miku was wearing a purple and white striped polo and the same purple skirt from the last time she'd emerged from the dressing room.

"Isn't that still kind of matchy?" I asked.

"Not _too_ matchy," Miku said.

"Oh, look who it is," came a voice. "Little Miss Perfect."

We all turned to see a familiar girl. It was Saku, aka Miku's mortal enemy. She's a year older than us, and, if I remembered correctly, was best friends with a girl named Aya. Miku says we're supposed to hate them, but I wasn't very good at hating people anyway.

"And Little Miss Loser," Miku spat, glaring at her. Kaoru and I were caught in the crossfire. Aya soon appeared, only to glare back at Miku. Then, following Aya, was Yolei. I was surpsied to see her, but realized that she must have become friends with Saku and Aya last year when they were freshmen. There hadn't been many fights with Saku last year, since we weren't going to the same schools.

"Skank," Saku said in reply to Miku's insult.

"Just because guys don't run away when they see me?"

"No, because they come running to you every time they don't feel like picking up a Playboy."

"At least I have something to offer them. What do you have? Besides a chest flatter than a table and a nonexistent butt, of course."

"And I guess it would be better to stuff my training bra like you do, huh?"

I always feel so awkward in these situations. I kind of wanted to defend Miku, but I also didn't want to become a part of it. I think Kaoru felt the same way.

"She doesn't stuff her bra!" Kaoru piped up.

Well, maybe not.

"Oh, you talk? I didn't think you had the brain cells," Saku hissed.

Miku snapped her fingers and Saku's eyes shot to her. "Your problem's with me, loser. Don't go insulting my friends or I'll kick your ass."

It's always when Miku starts her whole physical threatening thing that things get bad. One time we got kicked out of a store.

"Hi, Yolei!" I said, waving a bit. I was trying to break the tension.

She looked confused, then resumed glaring, but at me. "Don't talk to me, stupid freshman."

I stared at her. She hadn't been that mean before, in Seminar Group.

"You're a freshman too," Kaoru said, confused. "You're in Kari's Seminar Group."

"Are you talking?" Yolei growled. "Did I hear you talking? Isn't that too advanced for someone as dumb as you? Your IQ's like, what… 20? Do you even know how stupid you are?"

Kaoru just stared at her. Then her eyes began to well up with tears. She cries really easily, especially when people yell at her. She hid her face, sniffing, and leaned onto my shoulder. I put my arm around her. I knew Yolei wasn't having the greatest time being held back, but that was no excuse to be mean, especially to someone like Kaoru. I couldn't help getting mad.

"Hypocrite much?" I heard myself saying. "Yolei, you flunked freshman year. Don't go around calling other people stupid."

Everyone stared at me. I guess that made sense, because I never said anything when Miku and Saku were having one of their stupid fights. Yolei looked like I'd slapped her.

"Let's go," Miku said. "Kaoru, the food court has your favorite pizza today. Let's get away from these losers. I don't want to breathe the same air as them." She put her arm around Kaoru, and we both led her toward the exit.

"Miss! You have to pay for that!" came a voice from one of the workers at the store. Miku reached into her pocket and threw her credit card at the woman. "I'll take it and everything else in that dressing room. Oh, and that uniform is mine, can you wrap that up? I'll come back soon."

We led the crying Kaoru to the food court. So much for the start of high school being great, like Tai and everyone else says. Aren't these supposed to be the best years of my life? It's just more of middle school so far… The same stupid clothing styles, the same stupid Miku dating habits, and the same stupid catfights. It gets so old after awhile. And I thought high school would be different.

-x-

Poor Yolei. Or did she have it coming? And who else noticed that Miku and Saku's names are way too similar? o-o; Saku originally had a different name, but I realized that I'd used that name earlier for one of Kari's other friends, which would have been very confusing. xD Anyway, next chapter is called "be careful what you wish for" and is in Ken's POV! Maybe you already know what the title means to Ken. D: Please review and I'll see you next time!


	10. eight:be careful what you wish for:ken

This chapter made me sad to write. D: I'll try and update really quickly so happier thoughts will be in your mind! xD That being said, it's not like anything New and Tragic happens. But whatever. Here we go!**  
**

**:: eight : be careful what you wish for : ken ::**

"I'm home," I said, as soon as I entered my apartment.

My mother was ready in the kitchen with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. How typical. I didn't want any attention. Couldn't she leave me alone for once?

"Oh, Ken!" she cried. "How was your first day of high school?"

"Hardly arduous. It was only orientation, Mother."

"Come in and tell me about it! I made you cookies!"

"Thank you but no," I declined. "I have some work."

"Oh, okay," she said, sounding disappointed. "I'll be in here with cookies if you want to talk or eat cookies or anything!"

My statement wasn't entirely true, but I didn't want to be around her right now. I never really wanted to. I went to England trying to get away from my family. And now that I'd returned they were always there, especially my mother. She was like an annoying bug in my ear. Had she been like this before?

Before, of course, meant when Sam was still alive.

Sam was my older brother. I don't like thinking about him much.

But of course idiotic emotions never do what you tell them to. Once I was in my room, sitting at my well-organized desk, I folded my arms and put my head down on them. Being back here reminded me of Sam. In England I could forget. Yet he'd lived in this apartment.

What would his first day of school have been like, I wondered? Would he have felt as unchallenged as I had? Would his classmates have seemed as startlingly basic? I knew that I was 'academically gifted', as they said. My parents were always reminding me of that. It just seemed too depressing to admit that others my age – or near it, anyway – were really that mindless. Would Sam have felt the same way?

No, he would have felt even more out of place. He was the genius, and it came naturally to him. It was all as simple as breathing for him. I wasn't like that.

When Sam had died, my parents were so lost. They didn't know how they would get on with their lives. They tried not to act like it around me, but I could still hear their conversations behind closed doors if I made an effort to. Sam had always been their favorite. They didn't mean to have a favorite, and probably weren't consciously aware that he was theirs. I was their average son, the younger son, the one who _wasn't_ brighter than both my parents combined. Sam stood out. Everyone loved him. I loved him too, but… I also hated him.

Why did these petty childhood feelings always try and come back to me? They came suddenly, like the dark waves of some unforgiving ocean, sweeping over me. They were trying to drown me with their heavy, oppressive sorrow. Their unwavering darkness, and fear, and loneliness.

_I wish Sam would just… disappear_.

Why wouldn't it leave me alone?

It was because I was a human, and humans felt guilt. Humans were guilty for the terrible actions they'd performed, the unspeakable atrocities they'd committed. Everyone felt guilty, unless there was some deep psychological neurosis that blocked out feelings such as guilt. When I read about these neuroses, I'd wished that I had them. Being considered insane would be better than feeling so much overwhelming guilt.

I don't like thinking about Sam, and I didn't want to. Even though being here, after the first pointless and terrible day of school – when I found Odaiba High was less inspiring and its student body less inspired than I'd even thought – I couldn't help but have thoughts of my older brother drifting through my mind.

I never wanted him to really go away. It was just some idiotic thing I'd said. It was like a child wishing that the dentist wouldn't find their cavity. If their wish didn't come true, there would be some pain, but not nearly as much pain as if the cavity progressed. There would have been some pain if Sam were still alive – my parents favoring him over me. But it was nowhere near the pain of him being gone.

They say that it's better if someone dies quickly. That way, you don't have to see them suffer. I don't know who 'they' are and if they've ever lost anyone or not. But it's not like a Band-Aid, where you have to pull it off quickly to minimize the pain. If you lose someone suddenly, you also don't know it's coming. You can't say goodbye.

_But you wished for it_, my mind told me. _You wanted him gone. Maybe you didn't exactly wish for him to die, but you wished for him to disappear._

Why were my thoughts always torturing me like this? It was as if they got a strange kind of pleasure out of making me feel guilt, and remorse, and a deep gnawing pain that never subsided. It ate away at me if I didn't do anything about it.

It had been my choice to make myself as smart as Sam had been. I wanted to please my parents. So I threw away whatever identity I'd had before I was Ken, boy genius. I spent all my spare time studying, reading long books into the night. It was difficult, but I could do it. I had to do it. Maybe if I became like Sam, my parents wouldn't be as sad. And I wouldn't have to feel as lonely or guilty.

It did make my parents happy. But I wasn't. I couldn't tell them, couldn't let on that I didn't want to be this person anymore. Every time I brought home an A-plus, they would seem so ecstatic. What kind of a monster would I be to take that away from them – again?

They'd already lost Sam once. They didn't deserve having to lose him again. They didn't seem to care much about losing me, though. I was becoming more and more like Sam every day.

I had always loved my parents and had always wanted them to notice me. But now that they did, I just wanted to be left alone. Every second I spent with them was a second I could be reading or studying. And so I wanted to leave. My parents agreed, though my mother slightly tearfully, that a change of scenery would be beneficial for me. So I was sent to England. It was a school Sam had been researching online. He was too afraid to tell our parents about it because he knew they wouldn't let him go. He was too precious for them to let away from their sight.

But once he was gone, once he'd disappeared and I'd taken on his identity myself, they didn't mind letting me go. They paid attention to me, but still not as much as they had paid attention to Sam. Maybe they were afraid of loving me too much, afraid that I would disappear like Sam.

I didn't want to have any more thoughts about my brother. He was dead now. Just like I'd wanted. He'd disappeared. I'd wished for that, and the guilt was too much for me to bear. The sadness was too much for my parents to bear, too. So to make my guilt less painful and to make my parents happy again, I became Sam. I'd wished for him to disappear, but that didn't mean that I couldn't regret it. And I would do everything in my power to try and reverse it.

I picked up a heavy textbook and began reading.

-x-

Aw, poor Ken. D: Please review and tell me what you thought! The next chapter is called "brotherly advice" and is in TK's POV. Aw man, that name makes me feel even worse for Ken. Anyway, I'll try and get that one up soon. It's happier! xD


	11. nine:brotherly advice:tk

Talk about a fast update from the queen of slow updates. xD Woohoo!

Or you could just consider it a Double-Chapter Update Extravaganza! Or something like that. x3

And by the way, for those readers of 'It's All in the Cards', the finale chapter to part one will be up soon… Yes, I keep saying that, but I mean it this time. xDD

**:: nine : brotherly advice : tk ::**

"I'm home!" I called. "Dad? Matt?"

I wasn't really expecting my dad to be there, but it would have been nice. He works all the time at the TV station, and he's not around much. That's the reason why our house is so dirty, he says. He never has time to clean it up. But I kind of think he and Matt are just that way. I'm now the official cleaner of the house. I also have to go grocery shopping myself. If I didn't, we'd all probably get salmonella or some other kind of disease from the centuries-old food in our house and die.

"Mmghh?" came a barely coherent sound from Matt's room. With a smirk, I went to his room and threw open the door.

"Good morning, big brother! Time to get up!"

Matt turned over in his bed and hid his head under the covers. His window curtains were closed, and the only light in the room was coming from the doorway I stood in. Matt's room is always really messy, so I had to dodge clothes, CDs, and food from a couple of years ago (or so it looked and smelled like) as I walked over to his bed.

"Matt, wake up. You're not a rock star yet, so you're not allowed to live like one," I said with a grin. "Don't you wanna hear about my first day of school?"

Matt's messy blonde hair fin ally emerged a tiny bit above his blanket. Next came the rest of his face, tired-looking and a little annoyed. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead. How'd you like Odaiba High?"

"Eh, it was fine," I said. "But Matt, I met this girl – "

"Here's where it gets interesting," Matt said, sitting up in bed. "Go on. I'm actually listening now. I told you we were related!"

I smirked. Of course he gets interested when I talk about girls. "Let me start at the beginning. We got our Seminar Groups – "

Matt groaned. "Oh god, I nearly forgot about those. Thanks for reminding me."

"Hey, at least you only have one more year of them. I have four! Anyway, the people in mine are named Davis, Yolei, Ken, Cody, and you'll never guess who the other one is."

"Wait, I know Davis," Matt said. "I forgot he was your age cause he always hangs out with Tai."

I nodded. "But guess who the last person is?"

Matt shrugged. "I don't know."

"Kari, Tai's little sister!"

Matt raised his eyebrows, a wide smile stretching across his face. "Dude, she's the girl, isn't she? Tai and I always planned that you two would get together so we could be related or something. And you're already calling her Kari? That's awesome, man! I gotta call Tai!"

"Um… wait," I said, as Matt leapt for the phone. "That's not the girl I'm talking about."

He froze and looked back at me. His expression was a mixture of shock and disillusionment. "What? Who is it then?"

"Her best friend… Miku. Do you know her?"

Matt stared at me for a second. "Um, yeah. I know her. But TK, I think Kari would be a lot better for you, y'know?" He seemed like he was trying to break it to me gently.

"Why? What's wrong with Miku?"

"Dude, you can't be tricked by the way she looks. Sure she's hot, but she goes through guys like she goes through tiny little shirts."

I glared at him. "She seemed nice," I said. "And it's not like I only like her for her looks. I talked to her."

"Yeah, okay," Matt said. "I'm just trying to warn you. Miku has broken the heart of every guy she's gone out with. You know she and I had a thing once, right? Okay, I know she's way younger than me, but like I said, she's _hot_. You know what I mean. I'm just saying that I got suckered into thinking she was really great, but the next thing I knew she was all hitting on Tai."

"I don't believe you," I said. Why was Matt trying to ruin this for me? He knew how hard it was for me to start all over again at a new high school. "You were probably just jealous because she liked Tai better than you."

"Dude, TK, that's not it. I'm trying to protect you here. Stay away from her."

"You were all in love with Kari a few seconds ago," I pointed out. "And she's best friends with Miku. I talked to Kari the most out of anyone today and I know how nice she is. And I'm sure her best friends are the same."

Matt threw his hands up. "Okay, okay. Maybe Miku's changed. After all, people do mature when they go to high school." He looked down. "I hope she has."

"You don't need to worry about me," I said, glad he'd dropped it. I knew he was wrong about Miku. I thought he was, anyway. I'd have to talk to her more and find out myself. I grinned at Matt again. "Anyway, I'm walking to school with her tomorrow."

"She invited you?" Matt looked surprised. "I mean, I was gonna let you come anyway – so you could meet Kari and start your wonderful romance or whatever – but Miku invited you?"

I nodded. "Yeah!" Then I realized it had been Kari. "Well… okay, Kari did. But she acted like it was because Miku walked with her too."

"Just remember to get to know Miku before anything else happens with her," Matt said. He seemed pretty earnest, but I still didn't take him seriously.

"Right, right, I got it. It's not like I'm gonna go out with a girl I don't even know. I'm not _you_, Matt," I said with a smirk.

"Hey, there's only one girl I've got my eyes on now. And I know her pretty damn well," he said with a faint smile.

"Hey, I forgot… I'm going to Kyo's party Friday night!"

Well, this brought him out of his whoever-the-girl-was-induced trance. Matt stared at me. "What? You are?" He looked almost upset at the news, and I didn't understand why. Didn't he want me to make friends and be social and everything?

"Uh, yeah."

"How did _you_ get invited?"

I tried not to take that personally. I could barely understand why I _had_ been invited. "Well, Davis asked Kari, and she asked if she could bring Miku and… um, Kaoru. And then she asked if I could come too."

"Kari's sure inviting you to lots of stuff," Matt said. "She's really nice. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer her to Miku?"

"_Yes_, Matt. Yeah, Kari's nice, but we're just friends. Or I hope to be friends with her anyway."

"Don't worry, you will be soon. She befriends practically everyone."

I was looking forward to having new friends at this school, though I did miss my other friends… and Rizu. She was the girl at my old school who I'd liked. I'd just found out she liked me back when I moved away. She told me the day I left. I felt kind of guilty, liking Miku, but I'd moved to Odaiba at the beginning of the summer, and a few weeks later when I talked to my friend Haru, he told her that Rizu was going out with some other guy. I barely even talked to Haru anymore, which was kind of depressing. I guess like Rizu, he'd moved on and found new friends or become better friends with some of my old classmates. I'd just have to do that, too. Kari and Davis, and maybe some of the others in my Seminar Group, seemed like nice people who I could try and become friends with. And Miku seemed like the perfect girlfriend.

-x-

What a contrast to the last chapter, huh? XD Just showing some relationships the main characters have with their brothers, I guess… Anyway, what do you think? Is Matt right, or is he just jealous like TK thinks? And will TK and Miku ever get together? Please review!


	12. ten:worst day ever:yolei

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm really quickly uploading this chapter that I just finished before starting on huge amounts of homework. D: I'll try and have something more up soon!**  
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**:: ten : worst day ever : yolei ::**

I was still pretty upset when my friends and I were done shopping. They'd tried to make me feel better, and even though they're really good friends, they couldn't quite do it. Aya even bought me a new sweater, in my favorite color, red. It was really sweet of her, but it still didn't make me much happier. I pretended it did.

When we left the mall, Aya and Saku were already planning revenge on Miku and Kari. I told them not to bother, which I guess is unlike me. I mean, I hated Miku too, but I wasn't sure about Kari. She'd never really even said anything like that before. And she'd been so nice today I guess I'd just been expecting her to stay that way.

My cell phone rang as we were leaving the mall. I saw that it was my mother calling and sighed, then answered it. "Hello?"

"Yolei, hi! You need to get down here now!"

Just as I'd been expecting, my mom needed me to work again. "Ugh, Mom… right now? Do I have to?"

"Your father needs to go to the hospital. It's an emergency."

I felt fear rush through me. "What? What's wrong?"

"Your aunt had her baby!"

I glared at the phone. "Mom, don't make me worry like that!"

"Just get home now. You have to take the rest of your father's shift. You can get off at five." With that, she hung up.

"Bye to you too, Mom," I muttered. "You guys, I have to go to the shop. As usual. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

After we said goodbye I walked home. Was this the worst day ever or what? It only made me hate freshmen even more. And stupid Kari. She wasn't allowed to get all mean all of a sudden! She'd protected me before, when we were waiting to get our school pictures taken, by not telling Kaoru I'd been held back. So why had she gone from being so nice to being so mean? I guess I'd been kind of mean to her friend too, but shouldn't Kari have been used to that by now? I'd been acting bitchy all day. The only time I'd felt better was when I got to go shopping with my friends. And even that was ruined by Miku. I hadn't gotten into that argument until Kari had tried to talk to me, for some reason. Was she crazy? She knew her friends and my friends were sworn enemies.

I guess having to work on my day off was just another reason why this was the worst day ever.

-x-

"Thank you, come again," I said boredly, not even trying to make my voice sound like Apu's from _The Simpsons_. Why was work so boring?

I leaned back in the chair I'd dragged behind the register and groaned. "Uggh. I wish this was more exciting!"

As soon as I said that, the door opened and the little bell rang. Looking to see who it was, my eyes widened. I was just about to get what I wished for. It was a bunch of guys, led by Taichi Kamiya. He was holding a soccer ball under his arm and walking right towards me. Maybe he was coming here to ask me out? Oh my god oh my god. I didn't care that there were rumors about him and Sora Takenouchi. Rumors were stupid anyway. He was here to ask me out! I thought my heart was going to stop until a familiar maroon-haired kid jumped out from behind Tai. "Hiiii, Yolei!"

I glared at Davis. "Thanks for ruining my fantasy," I mumbled. Why was I so stupid? Guys like Taichi Kamiya didn't ask me out. _No_ guys asked me out. Davis just came to annoy the crap out of me. Yep, seeing him this much in one day definitely made for the worst day ever.

"This just got so awkward," Davis said, laughing. A few other guys did too.

My face burned red. "Not like that! Ugh, you stupid little pervert of a freshman… What are you even doing here, you prepubescent clod?"

"I'm not sure what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment!" Davis said. "We're here to get food... You do sell that here, right?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response," I sniffed. "Also, I have the right to refuse service to anyone. Like you, Davis?"

"Jeez, Davis, what'd you do to her?" Taichi asked with a grin, stepping forward. "Don't worry, he won't make any trouble for you."

"I hope not," I said. "Um… Hi, Taichi."

"You know me?" He looked surprised. Probably because he had no idea who I was. Nobody really did, except they all thought I was a psychopath.

"Of course!" I exclaimed, then realized I sounded just a _tiny _bit stalkerish. "You're my friend's older brother." It just came out. Umm, so who had been hating Kari a few minutes before? Not me!

His face lit up. "You're friends with Kari? That's cool."

"Yeah, we go way back," I said, crossing my fingers under the counter. "So what'll you guys have?"

"We just played some intense soccer," Taichi said with a grin. "What would you recommend?"

Was he flirting with me? Oh, probably not. He had no idea who I was, I was still wearing my stupid school uniform from before, and I was insane anyway. Plus this was my worst day ever. He couldn't be. "Um… ice cream?"

"Sounds good," Taichi said.

"I want chocolate!" one boy said childishly. He scooted to the front. It was Kyo. "Do you have chocolate?"

"Yeah," I said, amused. "It's all in the freezer in the corner."

They all rushed over to the freezer and started pulling ice cream out. I counted how many guys there were and tried not to stare too much at them. One of them, Nao, wasn't even wearing a shirt. Were they trying to torture me or something? Was this hell? Or was it heaven? Definitely hell, today. My face red, I pulled out thirteen spoons from behind the register. We kept plastic spoons for situations just like these. There was a park just next door, and people liked to have picnics and stuff there.

The guys returned and set down seven huge tubs of ice cream. I rang them up quickly, before they had the chance to put any back. Then I put them in plastic bags and threw the spoons in. Kyo decided he was rich enough to pay for it all and handed me his credit card. Once it was all paid for, they began filing out.

"Bye, Yolei," Taichi said, waving.

"Bye, Taichi! Tell Kari I say hi!" I said with a huge smile. I knew I probably looked stupid, but I couldn't help it.

Finally, Davis was the only one left. I looked at him strangely. "What do you want? Don't you want to go get ice cream before they eat it all?"

He leaned over close to me. "I need to talk to you," he said. He looked absolutely serious, and my eyes widened. I'd never seen Davis like that before. He took this as permission to go on. "Honestly, I just came in here to bug you. I didn't know you worked here, but I saw you coming here when I was playing soccer. But I didn't know you and Kari were such good friends, and now that I know, I want to talk to you about her."

"What? We're not," I said, confused. Then I remembered I had just minutes before acted as if she and I were.

"Don't tell anyone, but I like her, and I tried to ask her out today, but I don't think she understood – " He paused. "Wait, what did you just say?" It was like he hadn't heard me at all.

I smirked at him. "You like her, huh?"

"You're not friends with her?"

"Nope. Kind of the opposite, actually." It was interesting information I'd just gathered, though. So Davis liked Kari? After like a day? I blushed. Okay, I was kind of guilty of that too with Ken, but whatever. That was different. It was love at first sight.

"Why'd you say that you were her friend?" Davis asked.

"So Taichi would – " I shut my mouth and glared at him, crossing my arms. "It doesn't matter."

"Don't tell anyone I like her, okay?" Davis pleaded.

"I won't…" An evil idea occurred to me. "If you do what I say, that is."

He stared at me. "What do you mean?"

I grinned at him evilly. "You have to become my slave."

"Your slave? No way!"

"You know, I can get Kari's number really easily from Taichi. And he's just right outside. One call and she knows. Or I could just tell her friend Kaoru and it would be around the school in a couple of seconds."

He sighed, looking defeated. "What do I have to do as your slave?"

I smiled at him. This was going to be so perfect. In fact, this whole day was finally turning around… Maybe it _wasn't_ the worst day ever.

-x-

So, to summarize: Yolei has to work on her day off, and is still feeling crappy after the encounter with Kari and her friends. While working, Taichi and his soccer friends come in and buy tons of ice cream. In order to make Taichi think she's not a stalker for knowing who he is, Yolei says she's friends with Kari (despite kind of hating her for being mean earlier). Davis thinks that because Kari and Yolei are 'good friends' he should talk to Yolei about his crush on Kari, and she uses this to blackmail him into being her slave.

Please review! Next chapter will be called 'nerves', featuring Cody!


	13. eleven:nerves:cody

Hi, everyone. I realized that I hadn't thanked any reviewers yet, which is terrible of me. xD Thank you to Hikari Yagami 24 and saruwatarikoumiko for reviewing on basically every chapter. Thank you also to 666youwillburninhell666, Paulagirl, Takeru Kitty Coconut, milkshakelvr, Sonotn2unemore, Drunkenchicken94, and sunflowers. (That's everyone who's reviewed since the beginning, by the way! If I forgot you, my eyes are going insane and I'm sorry.) I'll also be clarifying a few things people have said or asked or whatever in the past few chapters...

To saruwatarikoumiko: Nice job catching the dark ocean allusion thingy. ;D Yeah, I put that in there for a reason... even though there's no Digital World, I wanted to show that Ken still has the same emotions as if he'd gone to it. I didn't make him as violent, though, because he doesn't have a dark spore in him. :3 Oh, and I dunno about this whole Takari thing... Tamiku sounds pretty good to me! xDD evil grin

Hikari Yagami 24: Glad you're addicted. And I agree, TK needs to pay attention to Yamato. x-x; He's older and wiser and everything! xD But I wonder why Yamato is so anti-Miku anyway? cue mysterious slash suspenseful music

666youwillburninhell666: Glad you like the story so far... I hope the titles aren't too annoying. ;D I love strange punctuation, if you couldn't tell. xD

Anyway, thank you to everyone! I'm sorry I haven't done this sooner! o-o;

And here's the chapter!

**:: eleven : nerves : cody ::**

My alarm clock went off at six in the morning. I was already awake. My stomach hurt from my nerves. So much for butterflies – my stomach was full of angry bees, or something. Butterflies conjured up such a nice image. But being nervous wasn't nice. Sure, I'd already gone to orientation, but this was an actual school day. That hadn't been that long. This was real. And that was only with freshmen and sophomores, where this was with juniors and seniors too. They were all practically adults, and I'd barely started puberty. Who was the insane person who 'let me' skip a grade again? I should have been in seventh grade. So _why_ was I going to my first year of high school already? I must have been crazy for thinking it would work. I'm not even that smart. I just had good grades. But other students had good grades, too. Why did my teacher think I was so special? I was probably the worst candidate for entering high school early. Didn't my seventh grade teacher, at the end of the year, know I'd already skipped a grade? Why did she have to skip me another one up? She should have sent one of the other kids who's actually good at making friends, or even at _talking_. Or at least one who's taller than me. I knew I was going to be the shortest one there, and everyone would make fun of me. As the youngest and shortest student at Odaiba High, and also probably the shyest, it was only natural that I was nearly shaking at the thought of going to school today.

I got up and put on my uniform, then went out to the kitchen. My grandfather was sitting there already, drinking his prune juice. Mom was probably already at work.

"Good morning, Cody," my grandfather said.

"Good morning, Grandfather." My grandfather always has faith in me no matter what I do. I don't think it's very wise of him to have this kind of unconditional belief that everything I do will be great and wonderful. I know I'll mess up at some point. But I always tried to make him proud of me.

"Well, well! Are you excited for your first day of school?"

"Not really," I said truthfully. I didn't want to tell him how scared I was. He always told me not to be afraid or fear would overpower me. He'd always taught me to channel my fear into something else, like concentration or power. But that was in kendo. Still, fear was a weakness, wherever you were.

My grandfather, being my grandfather, could kind of sense it anyway. "Don't be nervous," he said. "It is fine to be nervous if you have reason to be, but you do not."

I sat down at the table with him after putting bread in the toaster. "Grandfather, you don't think I have reason to be nervous? It's my first day of high school, which is intimidating enough for someone as shy as me. But I'm also younger than anyone else. And they can tell, because I'm so short."

"And just as capable as all of them," he said. "If you were not, you would not have been promoted, correct?"

"That's just because I had good grades," I said, though I'd told myself before that I hadn't been promoted twice for this reason. It had to be something more, or else all the other straight-A students would be in this same position. But what else could it be? I wasn't very special at all. I never talked in class and people didn't notice me. Maybe my teachers just felt bad that I didn't have a father. That was probably it.

Grandfather shook his head. "Good grades do not matter. Your spirit and your courage are what matters. You were not rewarded by being good in school, you were rewarded because you have the heart to prosper in a higher school."

Why did Grandfather always have to sound like some kind of sage? I knew he was a martial arts teacher, but he didn't have to always be so cryptic. "I don't feel like I'm being rewarded for anything," I confessed. "I wish I was back where I belonged. At least there I had a few friends. Here I have nobody."

"This is where you belong now," Grandfather said. "And in time, you will make new friends. Didn't you tell me yesterday that you tried to talk to a group of children?"

"Well, yeah, but it didn't really go anywhere." My toast was ready, and I got up to get it.

"The fact that you tried is what is important. If you didn't try, then you would be a coward. But you tried, so you are full of courage and bravery."

He was always trying to talk like Yoda. Except where Grandfather said I was brave for trying, Yoda would have said, "Do or do not. There is no try." I kind of appreciated what my grandfather said better.

"Promise me something, Cody," he said as I buttered my toast. "Promise me that you will not eat alone today at lunch time."

As I carried my toast back to the table and sat down, I looked at him, confused. "Why not?"

"Every day for breakfast you have the same kind of toast, toasted just the right amount so that it is crispy but not too dark. You butter it the same way and always have the same amount of butter. Every day when you come home from school you do your homework right away and then practice kendo. I know you, Cody. You live on routine."

I realized that this was true. "I guess." It was easier that way. I hated surprises; they threw my whole schedule off course. And when I didn't know exactly what I was supposed to be doing, it was so much harder to function.

"If you eat alone one day, you will eat alone again and again. You must try to find someone to eat with."

"Grandfather, do I have to?"

He nodded. "Promise me you will."

I sighed. "I promise," I said reluctantly, and then I ate my toast.

-x-

It was finally time to go. I picked up my backpack with trembling hands – they'd finally given into shaking – and put it on. All my books, notebooks, and binders were in there, and it was heavy on my back. We had so many books, much more than we'd had in middle school. And in middle school we didn't have to buy the books, the school just loaned them to us. At least I would have a bigger locker than I'd had before. I would have to get to school early in order to put all my things away in my locker. Luckily, we had already been given our locker assignments and I had gone after orientation to look for mine.

"I'm going now, Grandfather," I called from the entryway of our apartment. My voice was supposed to sound brave, like he thought I was, but instead it was weak. How I really was. Why couldn't he see that?

Grandfather came to see me. "Look at you," he said. "You are always so serious. You do not have to pretend not to be nervous. You should never pretend. If you want to be a certain way, you must do it with no pretensions."

"But I thought you told me not to be nervous," I said, confused.

"I did. It is foolish for you to worry, because you have nothing to be nervous about. But if you cannot help it, then you should not pretend. Others will be as nervous as you. Remember that you are not the only one entering high school for the first time today."

"Yes, Grandfather."

"Now you must go. Remember, Cody, you are strong. You might not be loud like the others but your heart, your fighting spirit, is stronger than anyone's. Now, go. Make your father proud."

He always said that, and it made me wonder if my father would be proud of me, if he were still alive. Would he be like Grandfather, always saying how brave I was? Would he be as proud of me as Grandfather was? With the thought of my father lingering in my mind, a bit pushed out of my conscious but not too far away, I left for my first day of high school.

-x-

Yeah, I basically love Cody's sagely grandpa. xDD Anyway, please review! Next chapter is called "stupid sisters" and features Davis! ;D


	14. twelve:stupid sisters:davis

Hi to all my readers. :3 Happy Labor Day! (well, in a few days anyway xD) On account of my going away this weekend, I decided to upload two whole chapters this Friday. :o Woohoo, I feel accomplished! xD Anyway, here's the first one. I hope you like it!**  
**Remember to review! ;D

**:: twelve : stupid sisters : davis ::**

I was pretty sick of this whole stupid getting up early thing, but whatever. At least I'd get to walk to school with Kari. Yesterday, when I'd been playing soccer with Tai, I'd asked him if I could go with them too. So now it was going to be one big group of us walking, but that was cool. Tai and Yamato would probably talk a lot, and if I wanted to I could talk to them too. But I was looking more forward to talking to Kari. Miku and TK would probably be talking, if she was into him anyway, so that was one of Kari's friends out of the way. I wasn't sure about Kaoru.

If only Kari knew that I'd been trying to ask her out yesterday. When she'd asked if she could bring her friends, I knew she was either trying to avoid going out with me or had no idea I was asking her out. I hoped it was the second one, but it also meant I'd have to be a lot less subtle. Not that I even _was_.

I got up to shower, but the bathroom that my sister and I share was already taken. The door was locked, and no matter how hard I banged on it, there was no response from inside. Stupid sisters. "JUN! Open up!"

"No way!" she shouted back, finally. "Davis, it's my first day back at school and I need to look my best for Yamato. Don't you understand? Well, never mind. You wouldn't. Your idea of looking your best is probably running some mud through your hair."

"At least girls still like me however I look!" I hoped Kari did. But what girl had ever rejected me? Jun was like the opposite. "What guy has _ever_ liked you?"

"Lots of them! Like Yamato!"

"Yeah, sure. Jun, can I just shower? I'm walking to school with some people and I have to get to their apartment – "

"Ooh, a new girlfriend?" Jun snorted. "Let's see how long that lasts."

"Jun, come on! Open up! What are you even doing in there, shaving your eyebrows?" I banged on the door again. Sisters were impossible.

"You don't _shave_ your eyebrows, Davis." She spoke to me like I was some annoying little kid and she was a patient mother. Stupid sisters always make you feel like you're so dumb and so much younger than them.

"Well, you did once. Remember? You wanted to make your big caterpillar eyebrows smaller, so you shaved them all the way off!"

"Davis, that was an accident." She sounded even madder behind the door. "And you will _never, ever_ tell that story again, are we clear?!?!?!?!?!"

I thought for a moment. How to get her out of the bathroom? Well, like that insane Yolei girl had done yesterday, I could always use blackmail. "Jun, I'm walking to school today with _Yamato Ishida_. And if you don't get out of there now, I'm _so_ telling him the eyebrow story. With all the nasty details like how those hairs got infected or whatever."

"_Ingrown_!" she yelled, correcting me. Luckily, she also flew out of the bathroom, almost knocking me over. "Go ahead, take it, you disgusting little worm!"

"And thank you," I said, grinning at her. Insane girls like Jun and Yolei are easy to handle if you have the right leverage. Or maybe I'm easy for Yolei to handle if she does? That didn't make me feel much better, though. I was _not_ looking forward to being her slave or whatever. How long was that supposed to go on anyway? Forever? Knowing Yolei, probably. But I didn't know what she wanted me to do yet, so it didn't seem too bad. As long as she didn't spread the rumor that I liked Kari.

Duh – as soon as I _told_ Kari I liked her and as soon as we were going out, I wouldn't have to be Yolei's stupid slave. It wasn't like she'd be so dumb – though she was, especially if she had failed a year of school… I hadn't even done that! – that she'd actually spread it around the school that I liked Kari. People would just look at her like she was even more insane than before. Actually, she reminded me a lot of Jun. And judging by the way Yolei was checking out all my friends when we'd gone to the store she worked at, she was probably as boy-crazy as my stupid sister. Maybe they could double date, and Jun could be with Yamato and Yolei with Tai. But I knew those guys would never go out with them. They liked girls like, oh I dunno, Mimi Tachikawa. She was like one of the hottest girls in the school. And unlike Miku, she was actually _nice_. Not that I'd talked to her much. Tai, Yamato, and Mimi were old friends, from middle school. Along with all the others who aren't Tai and my soccer friends but who are still old friends with Tai and Yamato.

After showering, I came out of the bathroom to find Jun, glaring at me. "Took you long enough," she said.

"Your turn!" I told her, moving my arms towards the bathroom. I hadn't wiped up the water from when I'd gotten out of the shower, and the mirror was still fogged up. I heard Jun groan as I went into the kitchen, whistling. Mom had made me breakfast, and I wolfed it down as fast as I could. I had to hurry if I wanted to walk with Kari and the others, since my apartment building was kind of far from theirs. We were supposed to meet at her building in about fifteen minutes, and I still had to brush my teeth.

After Jun finally left the bathroom, I ran in to brush my teeth really super fast and then ran out again to grab my school stuff. When I was ready to go, I yelled out, "I'm going to school now!" Luckily, all the embarrassing things that mothers do were done. Meaning my mom took pictures of me in my new uniform and gushed over it all yesterday. Now she was just in the kitchen on the phone as usual, but yelled back, "Bye!"

I walked towards the door, then realized Jun was standing there, leaning against it, her arms crossed and an evil smile on her face.

"Dude, Jun, don't _do_ that! Don't you know how scary it is to see your ugly face anywhere, especially all hidden in the shadows like that?"

She just continued to smirk at me.

"I guess your face in the shadows might actually be less scary, though, y'know? Like you can't see it as much."

"Davis," she said slowly, "I'm walking to school with you."

"What?? No you're not! I am _not_ walking to school with my stupid sister!"

"I thought your friend Taichi was going to walk to school with his little sister."

How did Jun know this stuff? Did she eavesdrop on the conversations I had on the phone or read my email or what? "Yeah, but… that's only cause they live in the same apartment building! I gotta go!" I tried pushing her aside, and even though soccer and weight training has made me pretty damn buff, Jun was pretty unmovable. Probably because she's so fat (well, actually she's too skinny, but I tell her she's fat).

"When we went to Hawaii in the sixth grade, you wet your bed."

I stared at her. I'd tried to erase that from my memory! "JUN! I was sick, and that's _so _not fair!"

"Oh, yes it is," Jun said. "I'm walking to school with you, little brother, and there's nothing you can do about it. And if you try and tell anyone about the eyebrow story, I will tell Yamato the bed-wetting story _and _all about how you cried during the _Gilmore Girls_ series finale!"

"Jun, I hate you!" I didn't know anything else to do. "Fine," I said. "You can walk with us."

She jumped in the air happily. "Yay! Okay, let's go!" She opened the apartment door and almost raced out.

I followed, a lot more slow. "Oh no. Jun, wait up. I wouldn't want you to get lost." My voice was flat.

The worst part was having to walk the distance from my apartment to the Kamiya's because the only person I got to go with was my stupid sister _Jun_ instead of the cute girl of my dreams _Kari_. Life was so unfair. And so was Jun with her dumb blackmailing! She reminded me even more of Yolei now.

"That series finale _was_ sad," I told Jun as we walked. "Rory had to leave Stars Hollow. You cried too!"

"Well, _I_ don't mind telling them that I cried. And you do. So obviously my crying doesn't matter."

Stupid sisters. I couldn't believe Jun was trying to mess up my chances of getting with Kari here! Maybe Yamato would be willing to adopt her as her sister. After all, that way she couldn't stalk him anymore cause they'd be related or whatever. I knew nobody was going to be happy when they saw that my stupid sister was with me. Kari would probably think I was such a loser.


	15. thirteen:the walk to school:kari

**:: thirteen : the walk to school : kari ::**

I kind of admired Davis for bringing his sister to walk to school with us. Sure, it didn't seem like he wanted to, but he had anyway. That showed how close he was with his family, which is one thing I really like in guys. Even though he had a dead expression on his face, I thought it was pretty cool of him to spend time with his sister.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. At first, it didn't seem like I was going to show up.

"Are you sure Davis is coming?" I asked Tai again.

"Yes, Kari! He's sometimes a little late, but he'll be here."

We were waiting in the living room of our apartment, and everyone else was already there: Miku, Kaoru, Matt, and TK. Now all we needed was Davis, who I'd just found was coming with us this morning when Tai woke me up. I didn't mind having Davis come along, but it was weird that he never did when we were in middle school. I mean, the middle school and high school were almost right next to each other, so he could have still walked with Tai a little bit. Maybe he wanted to, but Tai didn't want to be seen with any middle schoolers. That was probably it. He made an exception for me because he had to. And he was always really protective of me, just because of my bad immune system when I was little.

"Davis is always late. Even once when we were on a date, he showed up late. Typical guy," Miku said. She was lounging on the couch, with Kaoru on one side and TK on the other. "Not like any of you, though," she said, glancing at Tai and Matt. "That's why you guys are cool. You're not like normal guys." She looked to TK. "I'm not sure about you, yet," she said, with a small smile. "I guess I'll just have to get to know you better."

Okay, Miku was already on the prowl. I didn't know why this made me so annoyed. Was it because it was embarrassing to watch her flirt with my brother's best friend's brother (wow, confusing) or something? Or just that it was taking place in my living room?

"I can tell you right now, actually!" Matt suddenly exclaimed. "He's, ah, just like all the other guys. Completely typical. Ask Kari, she's known him for years!"

I saw TK scowl at Matt out of the corner of my eye. "What?" I asked, confused. "I just met TK."

"Kari, you don't remember him?" Tai asked, surprised. "That's so weird."

"Yeah, we used to all four of us hang out together back before TK moved," Matt said.

I shook my head. "Sorry, I can't remember." I looked at TK. "Can you remember that at all? Or are they just making it up?"

"Making it up," TK affirmed. I smiled at him.

"We're not making it up! Seriously!" Tai protested.

"Kari, what's that?" Kaoru asked, looking at a pink box I held on my lap. It was the first time anyone had noticed it – besides Tai, of course. I looked down at it.

"Um… it's a box of cupcakes," I said.

"Ooh, you made cupcakes?" Matt asked, leaning over. "Your cupcakes are the best. Did you make them from scratch and everything?"

I nodded. "Yeah, or else Mom would've killed me." I giggled. My mom was an obsessive health-food cook. "Luckily I wouldn't let her help me."

"What are they for?" Kaoru asked. "Can I have one?"

"You might want to watch out, actually," Miku said to Kaoru. "If you want to be a size Kari, eating cupcakes will only hurt your diet."

"Oh, yeah! Okay! Sorry, Kari!"

There was an awkward silence.

"Huh?" I finally said. "You're on a diet, Kaoru? But yesterday you had that pizza…"

"We talked on the phone last night," Miku said. "Kaoru wants to be able to wear crop tops without having to worry about looking fat. So we decided she's going on a diet, starting this morning."

"Oh… um… okay." This was kind of weird, but I guess if Kaoru wanted to lose weight, she could do what she wanted to. "You don't need to lose any weight, though."

"Way to support her," Miku said. "Friends are supposed to support each other."

The conversation had gotten awkward ever since cupcakes had been brought up, and I felt guilty for having made them. They weren't for any of my friends, anyway. Or my brother.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "That must be Davis! Okay, let's go!" Tai exclaimed, as we all jumped up. "Someone else get the door, I have to find my backpack."

Matt opened the door, and immediately his eyes widened. "Jun?"

"Hiiii, Yamato!" came a girl's voice. We all crowded around to see who it was. Davis was standing there, looking extremely annoyed. Next to him was an older girl who looked about Tai and Matt's age. She looked extremely ecstatic.

"Found it! Let's go!" came Tai's voice.

"Hi, Taichi!" the girl called Jun said.

Tai froze when he saw her. "Jun? Um, okay."

"Sorry, dude. I had to bring her," Davis said, still looking downcast.

I didn't want to hurt Jun's feelings, so I smiled and said, "Hi, Jun! I'm Hikari Kamiya, Tai's little sister."

"Hi, Kari! I can call you that, right? Davis calls you that!"

"How do you know that?" Davis demanded. "How _could_ you know that? Ugh, stupid sisters are fucking impossible."

I was sure that, deep down, Davis and his sister Jun were as close as Tai and me. They probably just didn't show it in public. That was cool, too, though I wished Davis admitted how family-oriented he must be. It's such a turn-off when guys try and act all cool and detached from their families and siblings.

"Davis, charming as always, I see," Miku said dryly. "You know there are two sisters here, right?"

"Hi, Miku," Davis said. Then he seemed to feel bad about what he'd said. "Sorry! I didn't mean you guys…"

"Don't worry, I'm not personally offended. Kaoru and Kari just might be," Miku said. Then she stepped forward. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go. Kari's cramped apartment kind of makes me claustrophobic."

Davis glared at her. "Hey, man, you could at least be polite!"

"_You're_ going to teach me lessons on being polite? Back when we were together you had the nerve to burp on one of our dates. It was disgusting!"

"Okay, okay!" Tai said, shoving everyone else outside. "Time to go, time to go! Matt, separate those two," he hissed to Matt.

Matt pushed people in between them so that Kaoru and I were near Miku, and TK, Jun, and Davis were on the other side. Matt and Tai followed behind us as we all left the apartment and started walking towards Odaiba High.

"Hey, I want to be over near TK," Miku said, sliding over to him. "Hey, TK."

"Hi Miku," he said. Davis, looking annoyed, moved to the other side, next to me.

"I get to be away from Jun and I get to be next to you!" Davis said, grinning. "It's like a win-win situation!"

I smiled at him. He seemed really nice lately, and I wasn't really sure why. He looked at the pink box I held in my hands. "What's in there?"

"Cupcakes," I told him.

His eyes lit up. "I love cupcakes! Can I have one?"

"Sorry," I told him, smiling in a way I hoped looked apologetic. "They're for someone else. But if you want to try some, I can make them the next time you and Tai play soccer."

"That's be awesome!" he exclaimed happily. "Thanks, Kari. You're the best."

Kaoru, who was still next to me, elbowed me and giggled. I don't know why she still had the idea that Davis liked me. He was just a nice guy, and the cupcakes had nothing to do with anything. Tai had said that Davis was the only friend of his who could match his appetite, so it was normal that Davis wanted food all the time like Tai did. And who didn't love cupcakes, anyway?

Jun, in the meantime, had apparently dropped back and was walking in between Tai and Matt. I heard her talking to them, but especially to Matt. I smirked, wondering if she was one of the many girls in the Yamato Ishida fan club.

Miku was definitely in TK's fan club. She was acting like she always did when she tried to flirt with guys. It was kind of irritating that she'd dumped Kaoru and I to talk to a guy she had only known for a day, but whatever. TK _was_ nice, after all.

"It's so nice you invited us to Kyo's party!" Kaoru told Davis. "Kari's so excited to go to her first high school party! You're such a nice guy, Davis."

He smiled. "Thanks. I wanted to go somewhere Kari wanted to go."

"Ohh, I _see_!" Kaoru said, elbowing me again. Okay, so the last thing he'd said was kind of confusing, but it didn't mean anything. Kaoru was just being oversensitive about guys again. I guess she was just used to every guy liking Miku. Didn't she remember that guys didn't like me? Kaoru was the cute one and Miku was the gorgeous one. I was just their plain friend.

"Oh, you have first period algebra? That's terrible. I'm sorry. Math is probably my worst subject," I heard Miku saying to TK. "What do you have second period?"

"Biology," TK told her. "You?"

"Oh, me too. What a coincidence! We can be partners – lab partners, that is." Miku's stupid flirting made me roll my eyes. Luckily nobody saw. I usually don't get annoyed when Miku flirts with guys, it's usually kind of amusing, but this time I was for some reason. It was probably because I was still hoping that high school would bring in new habits. But Miku still had her old ones.

"We never got to compare our schedules," Davis said. "What do you have first period?"

"What?" I asked. I hadn't been listening very well to him because I was paying more attention to Miku and TK. Then I realized I'd heard what he said. "Um… I forget. Sorry. I guess we'll see each other in our classes if we have any together."

Kaoru and Davis started to compare their classes. I needed to stop focusing on Miku and TK, aka the Wonderful New Couple of Odaiba High or something. But I didn't really feel like talking very much. Maybe I was just nervous and once I got to school I'd get out of this mood. Okay, who else could I focus on?

"It's just a rumor that you guys are in this love triangle thing with Sora Takenouchi, right?" Jun was asking Tai and Matt. I smiled. Sora was another one of my brother's and Matt's best friends. They had known her a long time, and I was semi-friends with her too. In middle school, she had liked Tai, but he didn't like her back. And then when they were all freshmen, or possibly sophomores, I wasn't really sure, Sora and Matt had gone out. That was around the time that Tai started liking her. It was kind of confusing, but also sorta fun to watch. I always wondered how Sora felt, though. Now Sora and Matt weren't together anymore… I never found out why, but when Sora and Matt broke up, it spawned this huge fight between Tai and Matt. Now they were all cool again, but it always seemed a little tense when Tai, Matt, and Sora were all together.

"Uhhh… yeah," Matt said.

"You know, rumors are really stupid," Tai added. "Once there was a rumor going around that my face was blue. But it's really obvious that it wasn't blue. That's kind of what this rumor is like."

Matt hesitated, then said, kind of reluctantly, "Yeah. I, uh, remember that rumor. The Sora-love-triangle thing is just the same."

"Besides, if we were in a love triangle, don't you think… uh… We'd have t-shirts that said we were in a love triangle on them?" Tai tried.

"Yeah, definitely," Jun gushed.

I tried not to giggle and wondered what being in a love triangle was like. Well, I was sure I'd never know. After all, that required two guys to like me, and even finding one was impossible.

I had been so quiet the whole walk to school, I didn't even realize we were already there. We turned the corner one more time and then it was there, in front of us, looming and impressive. And packed with students.

"Well, here we are," I finally said.

"Woohoo! High school, baby! Odaiba High better be ready for us!" Davis cheered.

"Ugh, he's got _way_ too much enthusiasm for the first day of school," Miku complained in her cynical way.

"Bye, guys! If you see us in the halls, don't talk to us!" Tai called.

"Remember you guys are just freshmen!" came Matt's voice. "You better know your place in the high school social pyramid!"

"Yeah!" Jun cried, not contributing anything else before she ran away after Tai and Matt. "Wait up, guys!"

I wasn't sure if I agreed with Miku's view – I was kind of excited to be there, too. But not as excited about it as Davis was, obviously. I remembered that I had some cupcakes to drop off as I shifted the pink box in my arms.

-x-

Who are the cupcakes for? gasp So there're the two chapters. I hope you enjoyed the Double Chapter Extravaganza or whatever it's called. xD Next chapter is called 'meeting mimi' and features the illustrious Ken. ;D Please review!


	16. fourteen:meeting mimi:ken

I'm supposed to be sleeping, so shh. xD Okay, I'm just uploading this really quickly. This chapter is basically a short one about Ken's feelings on the first day of school and stuff, as well as the beginning of the Ken-Mimi relationship. But what will that relationship be? Gasp! Um... anyway... read! xD

**:: fourteen : meeting mimi : ken ::**

It was time for my first class ever at Odaiba High: Advanced physics. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of students were enrolled in it. Hopefully my advanced classes would be oases away from the others. Cody didn't seem too terrible, and Yolei _had_ rather impressed me with her acting abilities – maybe she was a Thespian? Davis, however, seemed to be my complete opposite. And Kari and TK? Well, TK obviously didn't have control over his mind, and was cluelessly in the claws of that Miku girl. She'd seemed absolutely dreadful, and I had no idea why TK suddenly fancied her so much. Kari couldn't be much better if the girl was, as she'd said, her best friend. Didn't these people have any taste at all?

I was now in class, seated in the back row. I prefer not to sit near the front – I'd had some unfortunate experiences with saliva-spewing teachers. Speaking of tasteless, I noticed a girl with _pink hair_ sitting in front of me. I remembered that Yolei had a light lavender hair color, but this pink was different. It was so bright, unlike Yolei's more subtle hue.

Class hadn't begun yet, and the girl in front of me turned around with a smile. "Hi," she said. "I don't mean to bother you, but are you a new senior? Cause I didn't think our school let in new seniors."

I shook my head. "No," I responded. "I'm a freshman."

Her eyes widened. "A _freshman_? How'd you get in this class? I had to work soo hard last year in chem to be able to get the credits for this. I mean, I'm pretty good at science, but not _that_ good." She paused. "Isn't this a senior class? I'm a junior, but I worked really hard."

I nodded, not knowing which question she wanted me to answer. "I took chemistry last year," I told her. "I already had the credits from my previous school, so I only had to take the entrance exam for advanced physics."

"That's so cool," she said. "I'm Mimi Tachikawa. Who are you?"

"Ken Ichijouji," I responded. I was extremely ready for this conversation to end and for class to commence. I had to start dominating my classes already!

"Nice to meet you, Ken! Hey, do you know a freshman named Hikari Kamiya, by any chance? She's my friend's little sister and he's very protective of her, so he told me to tell any freshmen I met to be nice to her and if they mess with her at all, the captain of the soccer team will come after them!" She giggled. "Tai's kind of violent when it comes to people picking on his little sister, so watch out!"

"I've met her," I said. "She's in my Seminar Group."

"Oh, really! Hey, that's great! You should be friends with her, she's really cool for a freshman. Or maybe you already are friends with her from middle school or something? Though Kari went to my middle school, and they sure didn't offer chem there!"

I shook my head. "I went to a boarding school in England."

"Wow, that's so cool! I used to go to school in America. New York City, actually. But I moved back recently because my parents missed it here. Not to mention how much I missed it! Well, my friends, really. I have such good friends here! I have some good ones in New York, too, but not like the ones I have here. Sora Takenouchi is my best best friend. We do practically everything together. Sometimes I even play soccer or tennis with her, and she even comes shopping with me! Do you know her? And then my other best friends are Taichi Kamiya, like I said. Oh, and Yamato Ishida, and Izzy – well, Koushiro, but we call him Izzy – Izumi, and Joe Kido! I call Yamato Matt. He's in a band and I love going to his concerts! Tai's the captain of the soccer team, like I told you. Izzy is a total computer geek, but we still love him. Plus he internally updated all our iPods, or something like that! And Joe is a type-A clean freak – emphasis on the freak! – but he's still pretty fun to hang out with. He's really studious now and he wants to be a doctor!" Mimi took a deep breath after talking.

I could only stare at her. Was it possible to talk that much? Well, evidently – she had just done it, of course. "Fascinating," I forced myself to say, though I hadn't been paying attention to half of it. Or maybe it was just because she talked so fast and so much?

"Anyway, I should tell you about Kari, huh? Maybe you guys can go out!" She giggled again. "I think she'd find you cute enough! Kari's really sweet, and she loves photography. She gets along with mostly everyone, so it would be real easy to get to know her!" She stopped talking here, as if she wanted me to say something.

"Yes. She seems nice," I said simply. When would this class start? I'd been studying from my advanced physics textbook over the summer and had outlined each chapter. That way, I could refer it everything much more quickly than if I had to go through the whole textbook again. I'd reread one of the chapters the prior night, when I had wanted to get rid of all the feelings about Sam. I understand a lot of things, but I don't understand feelings. Not beyond the Freudian explanations, anyway. And Freud has been largely discredited now, so what did I know about them at all? I expected certain people, maybe even this Mimi girl, knew a lot more about feelings than I did.

_If you only made friends, maybe they could help you deal with your feelings_, my mind told me. But no, I didn't need to befriend idiots like this Mimi. True, I didn't know anything about her academic or intellectual capabilities, but she talked too much, which was not a sign of intelligence. Sometimes people were talkative to take attention away from their low mental abilities. And Kari, who Mimi wanted me to get to know? I didn't need to be her friend either. I could possibly tolerate Cody, whose reserved nature was bound to hide intelligence. Maybe in him I could even find a kindred spirit, one who realized that there was more to life than soccer and liking girls, as Davis seemed to have his life centered around. True, soccer _was_ an excellent sport, but being talented in sports was no large feat. It was when one could balance between mind and body that they were truly advanced.

Mimi was still talking, though I was no longer listening. Sometimes, with characters like hers, it's best to tune out, smile, and nod along as if she were the most interesting person on the planet.

I was sure all the other students were eager for their learning to begin, too. That was how it had been at my old school, anyway. My eyes drifted to the clock, and again I begged silently for class to start.

-x-

So yeaaah. :3 Next chapter: 'bonding in biology', featuring TK. It's already basically written, but I have to go over it, so it should be up very soon. Possibly tomorrow? I do have two disgusting tests on Friday that I have to study for tomorrow, but I'll try and squeeze a little chapter in... ;D Anyway please review!


	17. fifteen:bonding in biology:tk

Sigh… hey everyone, I'm doing a quick upload before immersing myself in calculus and politics… Hopefully this chapter doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth…

To the most recent reviewers:

**Sangloupmon:** Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far!

**Hikari Yagami 24:** Yeah, Miku is the kind of person I can see putting a curse on people. xD Or a plague or something. And I'm glad you like the idea of Ken and Mimi… who knows where I'm going with that, though. xD

**saruwatarikoumiko:** I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you too much… Unfortunately, it's not Kari who TK bonds with. D:

…and on that note…

I was tempted to name this chappie "ugly" or something. I swear, I was making so many faces when I wrote it. xD Can you tell how much I hate Miku from the way I write about her? I try to sound impartial…ish. But you can probably tell. x3 Anyway, here's the UGLY chapter…

**:: fifteen : bonding in biology : tk ::**

I'd been looking forward to second period ever since I found out Miku was in my class. I'd talked to her when we walked to school, and she seemed really cool. I didn't care what Matt said, she was really nice. She might have been more aloof than Kari or Kaoru, but I knew that deep down she was just as nice as them, if not nicer. I'd never met a girl as perfect as her before. She was nice, beautiful, and intelligent. She seemed intelligent, anyway. I guess I'd still have to see what she was like in school, though school didn't mean anything about one's intelligence anyway. And she seemed to like me – as a friend, anyway. I was so lucky.

I wasn't sure if she'd sit next to me. What if there was another guy in this class who she liked better? What if she sat with him and never looked at me again? I made sure to sit in the back, so at least if she did, I could still see her and watch her as she flirted with some other guy. Or maybe I didn't want to see that? I was debating changing my seat to one near the front when she came in. Her eyes scanned the room and she saw me, then, with a smile, walked slowly over to me and slid into the desk next to mine.

"Thanks for saving me a seat, TK," she said.

"No problem. How was your first class?" I asked with a smile.

"Boring, as usual. But I know biology won't be."

"Are you a science person, then?" I asked.

She smirked at me. "No, TK. That's not why this class is going to be interesting. It's going to be interesting because you're in it. Get it?"

I nodded, though I didn't quite get it. Did she like me back? _Oh please let her like me back_, I begged. Fate had screwed around with me enough lately. It should owe me a few favors.

The teacher came in, much to my dismay. "Hello, everyone. Now, as this is a freshman class, I would like to have you all introduce yourselves. You first," he said, pointing to a girl in the first row.

"He sure doesn't waste any time," I muttered to Miku. "Did he even introduce himself yet?"

She leaned back in her chair, looking bored. "He probably just wants to get this out of the way so we can do tons of boring science. Great."

I also leaned back in my chair, so I could be closer to her. "Oh, so you're _not_ a science person, then?" I asked. "What kind of a person are you?"

"Well," she said, looking up as if she were thinking to herself, "that's a hard question. I'm a person who really likes dinner. And sometimes movies. And, of course, flowers. I prefer flowers to chocolate. My favorite flowers are pink roses."

Okay, so now I was majorly confused. Was she trying to make me confused? Was she trying to ask me out or something? Or get me to ask her out? "That's cool," I said, for lack of a better response.

I realized it was quiet in the room. The teacher was staring at me. "Yes?" he said.

"Um, what?" Way to get off on the wrong foot. Did he hear me talking? Was he one of those teachers who got really mad if you talked, or just a little annoyed?

"It's your turn to introduce yourself," he said. "Hopefully you can pay attention to me when we actually start learning! I know I might not be as interesting as your girlfriend there, but remember, this is biology, not chemistry!" He chuckled to himself, and a few other kids laughed, but I think they were just laughing at me and how out of it I was.

"Um… Sorry. What should I say again?" My face was bright red. He'd just called Miku my girlfriend… Was I supposed to correct him or something?

"Just tell me your name, favorite food, and something interesting about yourself."

"Um, okay… I'm Takeru Takaishi… My favorite food is pizza with extra cheese… and um… I like basketball." _Oh yeah, so interesting_, my mind said. Miku would probably think I was an idiot.

"Okay, now Ms. Takeru's Girlfriend!" the teacher announced, obviously having too much fun to stop calling her that.

Miku shrugged. "Yeah, I'm Miku. I like burgers. And the interesting thing about me?" She hesitated for a moment, then glanced at me, a lopsided smile spreading across her face. "An interesting thing about me is that I'm not his girlfriend," she said. Then she added, "Not yet, anyway." She finished this off with a showy wink in my direction. People giggled and I tried to laugh, but it wasn't going so well. Cue my face to turn as red as… oh, I don't know, I couldn't think… something red, and – ugh, I was absolutely useless around her. My brain was, anyway. It basically didn't function.

"Um, thank you, Miku," the teacher said. I felt dumb for saying my whole name, when I could have just said 'TK'. After all, Miku had just said Miku and the teacher didn't care. Now he'd probably always call me Takeru. And I hated being called that. It was what my mom always called me when she was mad for some reason or another. And she was kind of scary when she was mad. Anyway, that led to my not liking the name.

Once a few more kids had introduced themselves, Miku leaned over towards me. "Takeru, huh? That has a nice ring to it. Mind if I call you that?"

I glanced at her, surprised. I didn't think she would like it, either. "Sure, I guess. How come?"

She shrugged. "TK is so… young sounding. Like a little boy. If you went by that, I'd feel like a pedophile."

I was still kind of in a daze about what she'd said about movies and flowers, and then about how we weren't going out – yet. Did she really have to add _this _to it? What was even going on? I couldn't focus on anything but the fact that she liked my name.

Well, maybe I could get over my scary-Mom complex. Maybe it wasn't such a bad name if Miku liked it.

-x-

Eww. I feel dirty now. xD

Please comment! Even if it's about how much you hate Miku, or how much you love her (uhh… but why would you?) or how much you hate me. D:

You can also tell me which storylines you'd like to see developed with the characters. I already have a lot of stuff planned out, but I can always add more. xD And I know that there have been a bunch of chapters taking place in only two days, but that's just because it's the first week of school. Pretty soon there will be one chapter a day, or even one a week. You know, on the uninteresting weeks. xD

Anyway, I hope I can update soon so there's not such a gross aftertaste from this chapter, but please don't hold your breath... I suck at calculus and have tons of political thingies to cover. xD Ah well, the next chapter will be called 'cupcakes', where the mystery of Kari's cupcakes is finally revealed! ...I have to warn you, it's pretty random slash unexpected. xD


	18. sixteen:cupcakes:yolei

...so, uhhh... here's the next chapter. xDD Basically, I'm going to fail my two tests tomorrow, especially since one is an Honors class and the other an AP, but whatever. Writing this chapter was more important, right? xD I'm kind of addicted to writing this story, so yeah. And I mean... I studied a _little_! ;**  
**

**:: sixteen : cupcakes : yolei ::**

Great. Time for English ONE. How I hated freshmen.

I sat in the last row of the classroom, leaning back in my chair and staring directly ahead. Hopefully nobody would try and talk to me. I didn't look very different from the stupid freshmen and their not-looking-different from me, but I probably didn't have that freshman vibe to me. You know, where they're all running all over the place and are overly excited? Where they crash into people and drop their books and make a big spectacle of themselves that all us upperclassmen got to laugh at? Yeah, that freshman vibe. Okay, so I wasn't even an upperclassman (UGH), and if I had been, I would only have been one for a day, but that didn't matter.

I was getting out my textbook and notebook and slamming them on my desk, when all of a sudden, who should walk through the door but Kari Kamiya. Great, just who I needed to see. I wasn't sure if I would prefer her trying to talk to me as if yesterday never happened or if I would prefer her being bitchy to me again. Probably the latter. I was prepared now, and I could pull a great bitch right back. Especially while sitting in ENGLISH ONE.

Kari saw me, and her face lit up. She hurried over to me, and nearly crashed into a freshman boy. "Sorry!" she said, maneuvering around him. I realized she was holding a big pink box, like the kind you buy donuts in. I would have held it against her that she had almost run that kid down, but she _was_ carrying a big box.

_Great_, I thought. _Just fucking great._ _She's headed my way._

Finally, Kari got to my desk. "What, here in my dumb freshman class to tell me how incredibly stupid I am again?" I asked, before she could say a word. "Thanks, Kari. I'd have thought you'd just ignore me, but I guess you must _really_ be channeling Miku today, huh? Are you trying to dethrone her and become the new Queen of Bitches?"

Kari just stared at me. "No," she said. "Yolei, I – "

"Hate you? Know I'm better than you? Scorn you and your flunky ways? Well, come on, there are a bunch of ways to finish that sentence that make me feel even worse about myself. So, whatever. Just tell me already. I feel like complete crap as it is, but I guess people like you are here to just make it _that_ much worse." I looked up to glare at her. "You act nice, but you're really just this evil bitch deep down. You're worse than Miku. At least everyone knows she's a bitch. But you rub salt in the wounds and everything. Go ahead, finish your mean little sentence. Try and hurt me more, you stupid freshman."

"Want me to finish my little sentence?" Kari asked. "I'm _sorry_, Yolei. I was trying to be nice to you just now!" She looked a little hurt. "You don't have to be so mean," she said, more softly.

I was taken aback. She was sorry? But bitches like her didn't apologize… I was so confused. If she was Miku's friend, why would she say she was sorry?

"I understand, I really do," Kari continued. "I was horrible to you yesterday, and I came here to apologize for that. So I'm not going to take anything you just said personally. I was mean, too, when I was mad."

I still couldn't think of anything to say. "Yeah, you were," I said, lamely.

"I just felt horrible once I got home, so… Um, here. These are supposed to be a peace offering," Kari said. She set the pink box down on my desk next to me. "I hope you like them, and I hope you accept my apology. I'm really sorry, Yolei." She walked away and crossed the room, sitting in the second row near the window.

I didn't want to accept the box, whatever it was. She had been so mean. _But you had been, too. And _she_ was the one apologizing._ I drew the box closer, then glanced at Kari. She wasn't watching me, luckily. I had to know what was inside – donuts? Or maybe she had planned with her friends to prank me with some kind of evil pink box… Well, there was only one way to find out, right? I opened the box a tiny bit, just enough so I could see inside, and the sweet smell of cake wafted out at me.

They were cupcakes, but not the gross kind you see in like Safeway. The frosting was real (and not lard and Splenda or whatever those grocery store cupcakes are) and pink and white. There were twelve cupcakes, in three rows, and they went in a pattern that made it seem like whoever had made them had spent a lot of time (or at least some time) counting out six white frosted cupcakes and six pink frosted cupcakes. And each one was decorated with either white or pink sprinkles, depending on the color (the pink ones got white sprinkles and vice versa). Okay, so pink and white weren't my favorite colors, but still. This was kind of amazing. All I could do was stare at the cupcakes.

Then I noticed something white taped to the top. I lifted the box open more to see it was an envelope. Grabbing it and making sure not to touch the cupcakes, I pulled it out and shoved the box closed, then tore open the envelope. Inside was a note, written with pink ink.

_Yolei,_

_You're not stupid. If you were, you'd be me._

_I'm sorry._

_Love, Kari_

I stared at the note. What? This made no sense… People weren't just mean to you only to apologize for it! I had already started hating Kari, so what was I supposed to do _now_? It was too hard to go on hating someone who was this nice after being mean. Most people, if they felt guilty, would have just apologized. But Kari had bought me _cupcakes_ and wrote me a _note_? It was all too much to process. What was I supposed to think about her now? Was she mean or nice? And how was I supposed to go on hating her if she apologized for the reason I'd started hating her in the first place?

Some freshman boy sat down next to me. "What's in the box? Is it donuts? Can I have some? I love donuts!"

Now there was someone I could hate. Kari wasn't.

I grinned at him. He'd just solved my problem: I couldn't hate Kari. It's not like I'd be her best friend, but… you know. I don't want to sound all cheesy. How bout I just say that next time Saku and Miku were at it, I'd say hi and smile at Kari?

The boy took my grin as a yes. "Really? I can have one?"

I kept smiling widely at him. "Fuck off!" I said cheerily. He stared at me, then leapt up and scurried away. "Bye now, zitface!" I called after him. _Time to make these freshmen so scared of me they'll wish _they'd_ been held back._

-x-

Speaking of being held back, guess who's not graduating this year? Mee! xD Oh well. I'm used to my high school after four years anyway. Who needs college? xD

So... please review! I know I updated the three last chapters in kind of this gigantic clump, but soon I think I will lose my momentum and start being a terrible updater again. But... -evil grin- if I get reviews it'll help me stay motivated! xD

So, the next chapter will probably be called "the promise" and features Cody. Will he keep his promise to his grandfather? Find out next time! And to make the waiting shorter, why not write a big, long, lengthy review! ;D_  
_


	19. seventeen:the promise:cody

Woohoo, updating time! I have now reached 40 reviews, yaaay! xD And this is the 17th chapter, and I am 17, so... this is pretty amazing, huh? xD; Anyway... to the most recent reviewers!

random-heart-girl: Aw, I always wanted to adopt a cat. Sorry about yours scratching you though. D: And I hope you like this chapter! It's not from Ken's POV, but he's in it... Don't worry, he'll be coming up soon... ish... xD

Takarilover817: Thanks, I'm glad you like the story so far. :D And I actually am graduating this year... Well as far as I know anyway... I just exaggerate too much. xD And I'm kinda bad at doing my homework and such, so my teachers hate me. ;

Hikari Yagami 24: I'm a horrible senior too! xD I'm pretty excited about college, though. As long as all the people I can't stand from my high school don't go wherever I go... That would be pretty terrible. o-o; Good luck on all the applications and everything! xD

saruwatarikoumiko: Maybe eventually Kari can give TK some cupcakes too. xD And thanks! Though I'm sure there are a lot of things that need to be improved... Anyway, to grant your request, here's chapter 17!**  
**

**:: seventeen : the promise : cody ::**

I couldn't believe it… After four classes and one break (which I had spent slowly packing up my things in my backpack from my 2nd period class and then walking to my locker to get my new books), it was already time for lunch.

It wasn't like the other classes went that quickly, but lunch was what I was dreading, and so it came quickly.

And here I was, standing in the cafeteria. I had packed myself a lunch, so I wouldn't have to deal with the cafeteria food, but waiting in line and stomaching the food was easy compared to finding a seat with someone. I felt like all the eyes in the cafeteria were on me, and that they were all softly laughing behind their hands at me. Soon they wouldn't be able to hold it back anymore, and then they would break out laughing at the short and constantly serious boy who looked nervous out of his mind.

Why had I promised Grandfather this? I stood with my back to the wall, shifting my weight around from my left foot to my right foot and back again. I wasn't sure what my hands were supposed to be doing, so I just put them behind my back. Then I saw a teacher walking around and surveying all the students eating, her hands behind her back. I decided I looked too much like a teacher and instead crossed my arms. But then I thought I might look too mad, and nobody would want me at their table then. I now wished I _had_ gotten the cafeteria food, just so I could hold the tray and look that much less awkward.

Wasn't there anyone else who was as nervous as I was? Even the youngest looking kids chatted away with their friends. I saw Davis at his table, with a bunch of boys who looked older than him. I thought one of them was TK at first, but he was older and wasn't wearing that weird hat. Come to think of it, the boy next to the TK look-alike somewhat resembled Kari.

But I couldn't sit with Davis and his friends. They would laugh at me most of all. The way their table looked, and the way they all sat, and how loudly they talked and laughed, was their way of claiming that they were the most popular guys in school. And I was not the popular type.

I found Kari at a table near them. Her friends, Kaoru and Miku, were there with her, as well as a few other girls who looked like freshmen. TK also sat there, next to Miku. I would have felt weird, being the only guy there, but he didn't seem to care. I couldn't sit with them, though. I would feel weird being the only _other_ guy there.

Then there was Yolei, though it took a few more sweeps of the room to find her. She was near the back, sitting with two other girls who looked her age. She looked more approachable, but I hesitated. Just because she had less people at her table didn't mean she was willing to let me sit there. It might even mean that her table was more exclusive than the others.

I sighed. I knew from the beginning that Davis and Kari had had friends, but at break yesterday TK and Yolei had seemed like they hadn't had any. Sure, Yolei's friends were all sophomores and hadn't been in the same break period as us during orientation, but still. And I guess TK had made friends since, which seemed impossible to me but was what normal teenagers probably did with ease. I just wasn't normal.

Wait – what about Ken? It was then that I remembered he had been standing with us at the orientation break, too. And he had just moved here. Would he have made friends yet like TK? No, I didn't think so. He didn't seem as social as TK did. It took me awhile to find him, but then I did. He was sitting off to one side, reading a book as he ate something. And he was the only one at his table.

I took a deep breath. _You promised Grandfather. You have to honor that promise._ I felt like my body was moving automatically as I walked towards the table, making sure to keep to the sides of the room and not get too close to any of the other tables. Once I reached Ken's table, I paused. He didn't seem to notice me, he was so engrossed in his book.

"Um… excuse me," I said. My face was surely bright red. "Ken?"

He glanced up from his book, his brow furrowing. "Oh, hello, Cody," he said. He seemed pleasant enough, but a bit impatient to get back to his reading.

"Could I… maybe… sit here?" There. I'd gotten it out. Now Grandfather couldn't say I hadn't tried, right?

Ken nodded, and I wasn't sure if I was mistaken in seeing a small flash of surprise cross his face.

I still couldn't believe he'd said yes, and I wasn't sure if I was hearing things or if he'd really given me permission. _Sit down already!_ my brain yelled at me. I obeyed, sitting across from Ken and taking off my backpack to set next to me. I occupied myself in opening it and pulling out my lunch. Grandfather was right, I lived on routine. Since we'd still had bread left over, I'd made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I love those, even though I know they're kind of weird. Ken had normal food, I noticed, as he picked up a perfectly made rice ball. I also noticed he had set his book down, but left it open, as if he didn't quite know what to do with it.

Was I supposed to talk now?

"Did you make those yourself?" I blurted out. It was the only thing I could think of.

He glanced down at the rice ball he was eating, then shook his head. "No," he said, once his mouth wasn't full anymore. "My mother did. She gets some kind of joy out of doing things like this."

"Oh," I said. _Say something else!_ "That's nice of her… My mother won't. She says she has enough to do without having to make me food." After this, I felt kind of bad, like I shouldn't have said it. Maybe he'd think I was implying he wasn't able to make his own lunch? "But I have enough to do without having to make myself food, too," I said, a bit rushed but truthfully. "Sometimes I forget to make myself lunch."

Ken nodded, probably surprised at how much I'd just said. I sure was. Okay, it hadn't been _that_ much, but Ken was nearly a stranger. "Is that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" he asked.

I blinked, then nodded. "Yeah."

"I used to eat those constantly in England. We were forced to eat the cafeteria food there, and those sandwiches were the easiest things to eat while reading."

"Do you always read when you eat?" I made myself ask.

He nodded. "Generally," he said.

"Sorry," I said. "I guess I should… stop bothering you and let you read, then. I don't talk much anyway, so I'll just… stop." I unwrapped my sandwich and began to eat it.

Ken shook his head. "It's perfectly fine," he said. "I enjoy a good conversation sometimes. It's not like you're one of those girls over there," he said, nodding towards a table of girls, obviously the loudest in the whole cafeteria.

I nodded with a slight smile. "I don't think I could ever be that loud."

Ken ate another rice ball, then said, "One of those girls invited me to sit with them. She's been in a few of my classes so far – Mimi Tachikawa?"

"I've heard the name from girls in my class… My old class, I mean. They love her."

"I couldn't stand her. She prattled on and on about nothing: her friends, her hair, clothes, the mall, more clothes, and the color pink."

"I'm sure I won't be any more interesting," I said, frowning a tiny bit. I hoped Ken wasn't judging me right now and was ready to tell a story about me to the next person.

"I'm not sure. You don't blurt out everything that comes to your mind. You seem to weigh it inside your head first, then plan the words out carefully. It's interesting."

I thought about this. "I guess I do," I said. "My grandfather says I always think about things too much, that I should just do them."

"My soccer coach used to tell me that, too," Ken said. "I would always reply that over-thinking works better than just booting the ball around. Yet I found myself realizing that every one of the best plays I made was mostly on instinct, and without too much of a thought process going on beforehand."

Was this a sports analogy – something that applied to any situation? I found it easier and easier to talk to Ken the more I pushed my uncertain part of the mind away, the one that did what Ken called over-thinking. Maybe his soccer coach was right, though I didn't know much about soccer. And maybe Grandfather was right, too – after all, he always was.

-x-

Woohoo, Cody was kinda social! Anyway, review and let me know what you think about this chapter, Cody and Ken's relationship, or life in general! xD

Next chapter: Davis's "the threat". :3


	20. eighteen:the threat:davis

So this is officially my longest running fic yet. ;D Too bad it's still just the first week of school! xD Don't worry, after Kyo's infamous party it'll probably go a lot quicker… I'm trying to make it last for all four years of high school, so yeah. :3

Anyway, this is chapter 20, but in the story it's just chapter 18. Which is still good. xD

To the most recent reviewers:

Sangloupmon: Thanks for all those reviews! And I'm glad you like my other fic "It's All in the Cards" too. ;D I'll try and have an update on that soon… I'm just kind of obsessed with writing this fic right now cause it goes faster. xD

Hikari Yagami 24: I thought I'd make Ken and Cody friends because in the show they weren't such friends. And I felt like changing that! x3 Blah, SATs. I hate those. xD Where do you want to go? I have no idea where I want to go, but I like Boston a lot. :3 So I might go to a school there.

Otherwise, read on. ;D

**:: eighteen : the threat : davis ::**

I was all juiced for soccer tryouts, but when I got to the field, Tai and some other guys were just sitting there. I was confused for a second until I saw that they all looked kinda sad. And there was no coach around. Huh?

"Hey! What's up?" I yelled, running up to them. I'd brought all my gear and everything and I was so ready to become the new center forward! Well, okay… I wasn't as good as Tai, and Tai was the captain of the team as well as center forward. But I could be the guy who filled in for him, and in the meantime I could play whatever else. Except goalie. I suck at goalie. Plus Odaiba High's team was so good that no balls would ever even get to the goal. Everyone said it was due to Tai's leadership, because once he was captain, the Odaiba High Boys' Varsity Soccer Team started winning tons of games and tournaments.

"Coach rescheduled the tryouts," Tai said mournfully. "Now they're on Thursday. I swear, this school fucks up all its plans. Did you hear about Seminar Groups now?"

Seminar Group? That involved Kari! "That sucks so bad about tryouts!" I said, dejected. I came to flop on the ground next to Tai. "What about Seminar Groups?"

"They've been Tuesdays and Thursdays, and monthly on Fridays, every year since I've been a freshman. But now there are just hour-long ones every single Friday."

"Is that a good thing? Cause, I mean, now it's not three days a week, it's just one?" I'd miss having the time with Kari, but I could always hang out with her outside school anyway, which was like a million times better than at school.

"I dunno," Tai said. "Soccer tryouts are canceled! Come back Thursday… Same place, same time!" he called to some newcomers. I saw one was Ken.

"Hey, Ken!" I called. "See you Thursday so I can beat you!" I was looking forward to the scrimmage most of all. We all had to say what positions we wanted to play, and Tai and the Coach would make two teams out of what we said. Then we'd play each other so they could see how we played on a team. Everyone had to try out for the team, even people like Kyo, who are almost as good as Tai. Oh, wait – Tai didn't have to try out. But that was because he was like lightyears better than anyone else, and he had been captain for a long time.

"We'll see," Ken said back, as he walked away. He wasn't even getting into the competitive spirit! That was what soccer was all about! Well, that, and making crazy good goals from way far away. And impressing Kari. I'd gone to a bunch of the Odaiba High games last year and the year before to watch, and Kari had always been there rooting for Tai. Sure, at the time I'd been more interested in Miku being there, but she was ancient history.

"Who's that guy?" Tai asked. "Ken? I've never seen him before. What grade?"

"He's a freshman," I said. "In my Seminar Group."

"Yeah? He must be good, then, to be trying out for Varsity. How're Seminar Groups going for you? Kari mentioned she was in yours."

I nodded, smiling a little bit at the mention of Kari. "It's pretty good… My favorite class so far, actually."

"What?" Tai looked at me, eyes wide. "You serious? Dude, _why_?"

"Um… Well, I mean, it's not like you learn anything in it." I couldn't tell Tai I liked Kari! He was her _brother_! Or could I? He was her brother _and_ one of my best friends. Maybe he could help me out with it? Oh well, it was worth a shot. Maybe he could tell Kari how great I was! "The people in it are cool, too," I said.

"Yeah? Kari said it was her, TK, you, that Ken guy, and two other people… I can't remember their names. One of them was that girl we saw working at the store yesterday. Yolei, right?"

"Yeah, Yolei," I said. "She's crazy. Ken thinks he's better than me at soccer, and Cody never says a word."

"Dude, doesn't sound like the people are all that great," he said.

"Well, not them." Neither Tai and I were good at being subtle or understanding subtlety, but couldn't he figure it out so I didn't have to just come out and say it?

"Well, yeah… Kari and TK are cool." He laughed. "Matt and I have been trying to set them up ever since TK moved back here. They used to be such good friends when they were little. Kari's first word was even TK. Well, 'kee-kay'." He frowned. "They don't remember it though. And TK likes _Miku_. Ugh. If only he remembered that Kari was the one who used to kiss his ouchies away."

I could only stare at him. Did he understand that I liked Kari? Was he trying to say that he didn't approve at all? Nah, that couldn't be it – I was a much better person for her than _TK_ was!

"I don't think Kari likes him, either," I said, shrugging a little bit. "I think she likes someone else a lot better."

"Yeah? Who?" Tai sounded dubious, but still curious. Why was he so doubtful? Was it because he couldn't believe that anyone could be better than wonderful _TK_? Dude, why was Tai so obsessed with the Ishidas? Were they really that great?

"Me!" I exclaimed with a grin. It didn't even occur to me that if Kari liked me, she might tell Tai. After all, they were close for siblings. _Way_ closer than me and stupid Jun.

Tai stared at me, then burst out laughing. "You?" he said, between laughs. "Why would she like _you_?"

"Hey! Why is that so hard to believe?" I didn't think it was. Plenty of girls had liked me before. Why couldn't Kari?

When Tai had stopped laughing, he shook his head. "Davis… Everyone knows how you are with girls. Kari wouldn't want to be in a relationship that just lasted like a week." He chuckled again.

"Maybe she knows I'm willing to change for her!" I suddenly exclaimed. _Uh oh_. _Was that supposed to come out that way?_ "Uh, I mean, if she wanted me to, or something." I'd sounded waaay too soap opera there.

I looked at Tai to see his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. "You…!" he said, accusingly. "YOU LIKE KARI!"

I clapped my hands over my ears. Dammit. "You don't have to tell everyone!" I yelled back.

Tai leapt to his feet and grabbed my arms, then pulled me up. I realized he'd picked me up so my eyes were at his eye level. My feet dangled below. "Dude, calm down," I said. Why was Tai so big? Okay, he was like four years older than me, but still.

"Davis, I swear to you… If you _ever_ hurt Kari, I will make you pay. I'm not kidding." His eyes were fiery and demanding. "Do you understand?"

I nodded quickly and eagerly. "Yep! Understand completely! Absolutely! Of course!"

"Good," Tai said. He put me down on the ground again. Other guys around who had been watching were laughing at me, but I didn't care. Tai's face returned to normal and he grinned at me, then slapped me on the back. "Otherwise, I think you two would make a good match!"

I was so tense – dude, Tai is _scary_ when it comes to his sister – that his backslap knocked me over.

-x-

The end. X3 And Davis calls Matt and TK 'the Ishidas' cause he doesn't realize that they have two last names.

Tai's scary about protecting Kari, huh? xD Let's hope Davis doesn't ever hurt her… But will he even have the chance to? Well, next chapter's Kari (currently unnamed, sorry!), so maybe you'll find out soon! ;D Please review!


	21. nineteen:an actual class:kari

I haven't updated this in a pretty long time, so I'm sorry about that. But this chapter took my an annoyingly long time to write, and I was having some problems with it. x-x; I originally wanted to write up what happened in Kari's whole class, but then I felt that it was too boring and hard to understand for people who haven't taken a photography class, so I cut it out. Anyway, I basically skim over her whole photography class, making this chapter seem extremely short. I know these chapters are basically meant to be short, but this one seemed too short and… oh, I don't know. I'll stop rambling now and just say that this isn't my favorite chapter in the world, but I had to introduce Kari's photography class somehow. xD

Thank you to my reviewers! Ugh, I spent too long rambling and now I have to update this before I have to go to bed… I'm assuming you'd rather have a new chapter up than have me reply to your reviews, but I'm very sorry that I'm not… I promise to do so next time!

**:: nineteen : an actual class : kari ::**

Finally, it was the time I'd been waiting for: my first photography class! I had photography every Wednesday after school, and during my second day of classes, I'd been counting down the minutes until I got to go. I'd kind of been ignoring Davis all day, even when we'd walked to school together and he'd wanted to talk. I hadn't really meant to, but I was really eager to go to photography all day. He'd been acting kind of weird lately, and for some reason that morning Tai had been watching him very closely. I wasn't exactly sure why.

After my last class, which I had with TK, I went hurrying outside. He followed me to my locker as I got out my camera. It was a 35mm Pentax, an old camera that I'd gotten on sale at a camera shop near my house. I'd messed around with it a little bit this summer, but I'd only done much digital photography before. I was excited to learn how to develop my own film and make my own prints in the dark room, though.

"So I guess we're not walking home together today, huh?" TK asked as I went through my locker. Yesterday, Miku, Kaoru, TK, Matt, Jun, and I had all walked home after school. Davis and Tai had soccer, and Tai had made Matt walk me back home, because he still thinks I'm a little kid or something.

I found my algebra book, then shook my head. "Sorry," I said. "Maybe you can walk with Kaoru and Miku?" Ah, good plan. Kaoru and I were officially matchmakers, trying to set Miku and TK up together. Not like they needed any help. With Miku's record, she'd be with TK and have him acting as her slave in minutes.

"They don't have anything after school today?"

"Miku doesn't do anything after school. But Kaoru has tutoring after school…" I tried to think when she said she was going to have it this year. "I think she has it on Thursdays."

TK looked kind of disappointed. "I have basketball on Thursdays…"

"What, you're looking for time you can spend with Miku alone?" I asked, half joking. But TK nodded. "Oh. Um… I can try and get rid of Kaoru sometimes for you." I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Thanks," he said. "Not today, though, right?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Sorry…" I was finished with my locker and closed it, then put my backpack on. "I have to go to photography now… If you want to find Miku, she's probably at her locker."

"Okay. Thanks, Kari!"

"No problem. Have a wonderful time." I walked away quickly. I'd tried not to let him see how annoyed I was at the whole TK-Miku thing, but I couldn't quite help it. And why was I so annoyed? Probably because I was sick of TK going through me and hanging around me to try and get information on Miku or find out what Miku thought of him or when he'd be able to spend time with Miku. I had a life of my own! It didn't revolve around their stupid relationship! And I was sick of Kaoru pushing me into matchmaking them. If they wanted to get together, they could do it themselves. Nothing was stopping them. Miku didn't need us to get a guy!

_Woah, calm down there, Kari_. I took a deep breath. Why was I getting so mad? Just a few seconds before I'd been trying to be a matchmaker, right? I shook my head as I turned the corner, walking towards what Tai had told me was the photography room. _You're not being yourself. Stop getting annoyed so easily and help out your friends!_

There were a few kids inside the photography room, and I recognized one of them as Joe Kido. Smiling, I went over to him. "Hi, Joe!"

He looked up at me and smiled back. "Hey, Kari. Tai didn't tell me you were in this class!"

"He didn't tell me you were either!" I sat down next to Joe. He's one of my brother's best friends. They don't hang out that much anymore, mostly because Tai is always playing soccer and Joe is always studying. He wants to get into a good college and become a doctor. He was supposed to graduate last year, but he didn't get into the colleges he wanted to because he didn't have enough credits. Now he's taking a few classes at Odaiba High this year to make them up and have some kind of super transcript.

"Apparently I don't have any art credits. So I'm taking photography. It can't be that hard, right?"

I wasn't sure about that, but I was glad to have him in the class. "Right!"

Once the teacher came in, she introduced herself as Ms. Satoshi. I was kind of disappointed to see that she didn't seem very nice, but maybe she was just having a bad day. She talked for a long time about photography, though most of it was all about the technical parts of dark room developing. She'd started to write calculations on the board before Joe seemed to panic and pull out a notebook. He started scribbling as fast as he could. I wasn't sure if I should take notes or not. I couldn't understand anything she was talking about anyway, so I didn't think notes would help me.

When the class was over, Ms. Satoshi told us to take pictures of anything we wanted and to come back with the film next time. Then she would take us into the dark room and teach us how to develop film and make prints.

When Joe and I left the classroom, we were both almost in a daze. "I never knew photography was that… mathematical," Joe said. "I'm already terrible at math. Why does everything have to have math in it? Even medical professions seem to be all about stupid math!"

"I hate math too," I said. "That was _not_ what I was expecting. I thought we'd go out and take pictures of stuff, you know? And it would be all fun and laid-back. That was like an actual class. I didn't think it was going to be like an actual class!"

"So much for this being easy," Joe said. "Did you see the syllabus? We have projects due like every other week. And it's too late to drop classes! If I fail this class, I'll never get into any good colleges!"

"Don't worry," I tried to console him. Joe got nervous pretty easily and freaked out over stuff like this. "At least we're not alone in this class, right?"

He sent me a small smile, the kind someone gives their companion on a desert island – or something like that. It was kind of worried looking, and kind of desperate and hopeless – but at least it was a bit of a smile. Probably the kind that comes before your desert island friend eats you since there's nothing else around.

I'd been (slightly) successful in cheering Joe up with that statement, but not myself. How were we not alone if neither of us knew what was going on?

_I think I'd rather be setting up Miku and TK than be enrolled in this class_, I thought to myself drearily.

-x-

Well, how'd you like it? As much as I did (aka not very much)? xD The only part I like is how Joe is in her class. He was originally going to be in college, but apparently Japanese colleges aren't very good (according to my friend from Japan, who came here to go to college). I pictured Joe in the best medical school in the world, but also didn't want him to have to leave Japan and be all far away. So… he has to get more art credits, because doctors need to be artistic, of course! xD

So! Next chapter will be called 'competition' and features Ken, though Davis is in it quite a bit too… As well as Tai, Kyo, and other people who all share some kind of common interest… Hmm… I wonder which one? ;D Anyway, please review!


	22. twenty:competition:ken

Heya everyone! Ready for the next chapter? ;3

Okay. I am not a soccer expert. In fact, I only played on a ten-and-under team for about two years. This is probably why I said both Davis and Ken play 'center forward', because we had a center forward on our team. Apparently that position doesn't exist, though. xD Our team was just small and had to make the center be offense/forward too, sooo… let's just say that the Odaiba High team does that too. xD; Hope I don't make any soccer fans cry.

MOVING ON!

Thank you thank you thank you to all my reviewers! I'll take this time to respond to all the reviews in the last two chapters since I didn't get to last time. :3

**Hikari Yagami 24:** I don't think Tai even knows what he's doing himself. xD Ergh, I took the SATs a few weeks ago… Guess it's too late to wish you good luck, sorry! Is that when you took them too?  
**Depthmon:** You can call me Rea if you'd like. :3 It's my actual name (kind of weird, but it's after a Greek goddess, only spelled wrong cause my mom can't spell xD) and it's also in my penname, yay! And as for your questions… I'll never tell! ;D (Aka I have no idea yet xD).  
**Oversized Bucket:** You're right, Ken and Izzy would be like best friends. xD Thanks for the idea! I'll try to incorporate it in soon. :3 Aww, I'm sorry you don't like college. Good luck on your midterm! Only… I'm sure I'm too late. x-x; Again… Sorry. D:  
**MadamePika:** Yeah, I was spending way too much time on that chapter trying to make it better until I realized I just couldn't. x-x; I hope you like this one better, despite my soccer ignorance!

Yay! Thanks for reading, everyone! We hit 50 reviews with the last chapter, how exciting! ;D And for readers of my new story "The Pyramid of Darkness", I'll have a new chapter up really soon. Possibly right after I update this one!

**:: twenty : competition : ken ::**

It was Thursday, a day I had been looking forward to all week. Soccer tryouts took place today, and I was eager to go. It wasn't so much that I wanted to beat Davis – well, not _that_ much anyway. All right, fine. That _was_ the reason I'd been looking forward to it so much. Can I be blamed? Humans live on competition. Without it, what is there to aspire to?

The week had gone by rather slowly. The high point of my school days was either having lunch with Cody or going home after school. Odaiba High was much easier than my old school, even if I was taking more advanced subjects here. The classes were so big, too. The teachers still didn't know my name. Everyone knew my name at my old school, even though I was about as social there as I was here. The people here turned out to be generally dull and uninspired, though Cody was a bit different. I looked forward to our conversations at lunch time, which had started out being quite awkward but had turned rather intelligent. I was surprised at the insightful things Cody said sometimes. On more than a few occasions, he had introduced a point that I had never before thought of. And Cody was quieter, like me. I liked to ask him questions and then wait for his calculated responses. They were always quite interesting, and I grew to enjoy conversing with him. He wasn't exactly a friend yet, but he was getting there. And he was much closer than any of the buffoons at school.

Speaking of one buffoon, I'd been seeing Davis more than I liked lately. I didn't have any classes with him – I imagined him to be stuck back in all the remedial classes – but his voice was drearily loud, and I heard it across the cafeteria and in the hallways. Sometimes he passed me without even noticing me. I noticed him, of course. It was impossible not to. He traveled in his little pack. I'd studied wolf packs on a week-long field trip to Idaho in the United States, and Davis and his friends operated like that. Taichi – as I'd learned his name was – was the alpha, the leader. In a close second was Yamato, the beta. Then came the nearly rank-less followers, though they still had some sub-ranks. Davis, as a freshman, was one of the omegas, the lowest in the pack. He was a follower, and did what Taichi and Yamato said. However, sometimes I saw Yamato with another group of friends, who were apparently in his band. He was definitely the alpha there, and when Taichi was with them, Yamato kept his alpha rank and Taichi was beta.

Davis was getting on my nerves a lot lately. When he did notice me, he just told me how much he was going to beat me in soccer on Thursday and get the position we both wanted. I'd learned that neither of us could really become center forwards this year because Taichi had that position. But whoever got to be the backup for that position would most likely get it next year when Taichi graduated. I was hoping it would be me, mostly because I'd given into the competition Davis kept pushing. I wanted to win, and I wanted to see Davis' face when I beat him. I didn't just want to win the scrimmage at tryouts. I wanted to win the position.

I headed to the soccer field after changing to find Taichi, the coach, and the others trying out. We had to sign up on a list, then stand in a line. The coach told Taichi to start some stretches, and we did them. I was familiar with all the stretches we did from my old school. Then the coach told us it was time for drills. He put us into two lines, partnering us up with people in the line next to us. I was partnered with one of Davis' friends. I thought his name was Nao, but I wasn't sure.

Once it was my turn, I dribbled the ball and then passed it to Nao, anticipating where he would be as he ran. He dribbled it and passed it back to me. I did the same, then passed it to him, and he shot the ball towards the goal. The guy trying out for goalie blocked it, and Nao looked disappointed. We went back, switching lines, to try again.

When Davis went, I watched him. This was an easy drill, but any bit of information I could get on him would be beneficial. I critiqued him as he ran. He was good at passing, but when he dribbled he kicked the ball too far. A skilled player with a good eye could easily nab the ball away from his feet. Maybe Davis was only kicking it like this because he wasn't worried about opposition right now.

I went again, on the opposite side. This time, Nao started off and we moved the ball down the field until we got to Taichi and the goal. Nao passed to me, and I paused before shooting. The ball went flying up into the right-most corner of the goal, crossing in front of Taichi. He leapt for it and the very tips of his fingers brushed against it, but the ball passed him and flew into the net. Taichi looked at me, clearly impressed. "Nice one!" he called. "I'm no goalie, but that was still a great shot!"

I jogged back, feeling pleased. I was even more pleased to see that it looked as if Davis wasn't going to make the goal. He was lining up the shot all wrong. But when he shot, the ball flew into the goal. "Goooooal!" he yelled, running in circles. I narrowed my eyes. How had he done that? He knew nothing about physics, but if he had, he would have known that he was approaching the goal the wrong way.

We did more drills and I watched Davis even more closely. Then it was time for the scrimmage. Taichi passed out pennies for us to wear, and I received a blue one. I was playing for center forward of the blue team, which featured many of Taichi and Davis' friends. I didn't know any of their names besides Nao, who was on defense. On the red team, Davis was playing center forward as well, and his goalie was a senior I recognized as Kyo, who was in one of my classes.

We all took our positions. Davis and I were facing each other, the ball in between us. I knew he would grab it first, and I would be anticipating it. When the coach blew the whistle, Davis did as expected and kicked the ball left, at his left forward who was trying to get past my right forward. Annoyingly, he did, and I shot my right forward a dirty look as I blocked Davis, waiting for the defense to help. I was center forward, and it would be in bad form to leave my position to go chasing after the ball. Nao stopped the ball and passed it to me, and then I dodged past Davis and dribbled the ball towards the goal. Davis raced after me, trying to reach in and steal the ball from me. I blocked him with my body and tricked him with my maneuvering. My right and left forwards had run up after me and I checked if they were open, since the defense for the red team was closing in on me and I still had Davis on me.

"Over here!" my right forward called. I decided to trust him again and passed the ball to him. One of the defenses easily nabbed it from his feet and booted it down the field. _Why did I pass to him?_ I asked myself, annoyed. I drifted a little ways back, but not much. Nao, my trusty defense, again stopped the ball and sent it flying back to my left forward. He dribbled the ball a little ways, but two defenses and Davis were all over him. I didn't hold it against him when Davis stole the ball away, though when Davis got the ball, I went for it again.

I was taller than Davis and also faster, though regrettably not as strong. I chased him with the ball, not caring that I was supposed to let defense do this. He wasn't terribly far down the field, anyway. I looked for weaknesses in his playing and remembered his dribbling problem, which he was doing again. I smirked and stole the ball from him, then went racing down the field before he could react. The red defense was too slow and I went past them, shooting as soon as I had gotten past them. I wanted to focus on accuracy, not on power, so I waited until I was close to the goal. The ball flew into the net, and Kyo, who had leapt for it, fell on the ground. He looked up at me, surprised that I'd been able to make the goal. I kind of was too, since Kyo was a senior. The blue team cheered and I smirked. That had been rather easy: I'd barely even broken a sweat.

Kyo picked up the ball and kicked it far over our heads. He was a good power kicker and Davis, who was somehow down at the blue team goal, received the ball. He dribbled it towards the goal. I realized that he had learned from the last time I'd stolen the ball from him, and he was keeping it closer to him now. _Well, he improves quickly,_ I thought.

Davis was getting closed in by defense, though. His left forward ran for the area in which Davis had open. "Davis, I'm open!" he called. "Davis, over here!"

Davis saw him, but he didn't respond. He made an attempt to pass the defense, but one of them got the ball from him and kicked it towards the other side of the field. Davis chased after it and stopped it before he got too far. Then he ran towards the goal, dribbling well, and kicked the ball from a far distance. My goalie wasn't as good as Kyo, and Davis made a goal. He looked down the field at me proudly. I just smirked back at him. The game was on.

For the rest of the scrimmage, Davis and I were in a fierce competition. Every time I made a goal, so did he. Every time my team scored, he had to also. Davis was a good player, and his power kicks might have been better than mine. I focused more on my speed and agility, but Davis was all about his power. However, he also hogged the ball, and that's never something a coach wants to see. When the coach blew the whistle again, the game was tied three to three.

"That's it!" the coach called. "Go shower off and change. We'll have the team list posted outside the Athletics Department on Monday. Remember, if you don't make Varsity, you can always try out for JV."

Yes, I was only a freshman, but I would rather not play soccer at school at all than be on JV. They couldn't cut me, though. I had played well as a center forward – I thought better than Davis. His indignant expression afterwards seemed to suggest he thought so too, but would never admit it. He looked a little worried, then caught me smirking at him and turned away, but not before his face flushed red. I was satisfied, and rather pleased at the outcome of the scrimmage. I hadn't exactly humiliated Davis – he was a better player than I'd expected – but I soon would by making center forward.

I decided to skip showering communally – what a disgusting experience that would be – and headed home. I'd fulfilled my athletic requirement of the day, and now it was time to nourish my academic one.

-x-

Yay! xD Okay, please review! Next chapter is called "miku's house" and features TK. And it'll be pretty bad. See you next time!


	23. twentyone:miku's house:tk

I'm not able to get on the computer much to update or write more, which is why I'm beign a slow updater right now. Sorry about that. D: It'll get better soon... Not that this was like 20 years after my last update or anything. xD

To the wonderful reviewers!

**Depthmon:** Glad you liked it. :3 And there will certainly be more Davis vs Ken later, seeing as they don't know who got the positions yet!  
**Khajmer:** Thanks for reading and enjoying! I'm always happy to get new readers. But if there's anything you see that could use improvement, please let me know. :3  
**OversizedBucket:** Haha, yeah, I played defense too. xD Sometimes goalie. But our team was so good that all I did as goalie was sit down and pick flowers. xD I took a college class over the summer, and I know what you mean about too much homework. x-x; Except I'm sure you have more, since I was only taking one class... Erghh...

Here's the chapter!

**:: twenty-one : miku's house: tk ::**

I hung out with Miku after school on Thursday, too. Kaoru had tutoring, like Kari had said. On Wednesday we'd walked back to the apartment building that Kari and Kaoru both lived in and had gone to Kaoru's place. There we had just hung out and watched TV until I had to go home and do homework. But on Thursday, it was just Miku and me. My basketball tryouts weren't for awhile, I found out. I'd expected basketball to be a fall sport and soccer to be a spring sport, but it was actually the opposite for some reason. I didn't understand why, since at my old school it was sometimes too cold to play soccer outdoors during the fall months. I was basketball-less for a long time, until the second semester of school.

Kari had originally planned to hang out with Miku, but when she heard that I didn't have basketball, she made an excuse to leave. It sounded plausible, anyway.

"Sorry, guys," she'd said. "My parents are going away this weekend – or else they'd never let me go to Kyo's party, you know? Anyway, they're leaving tonight and they want me and Tai to go home so they can tell us all the ground rules and stuff."

"Wow, you're lucky," Miku said. "You have the whole place to yourself? Well, it's not much of a place, but still. Too bad you don't have a boyfriend to enjoy the lack of parents with you!"

Kari had just shaken her head. "Tai's enough of a parent anyway. I'm just glad he's letting me go to the party, though he's going to be hovering over me the whole time."

Now Miku and I were alone. I was glad, but also a little nervous. "So… what do you want to do?" I asked.

She didn't seem to hear me, but she was staring at me critically. "Takeru, why do you always wear that hat?"

I blinked, touching my hat. "Huh? I don't know… In middle school I always wore it because Matt had given it to me and I never got to see him. Now I guess it's just a habit. It reminds me of middle school, I guess, and my friends back home."

"It's weird," she said. "People look at you strangely for it."

I reddened, unable to meet her eyes without feeling like a complete loser. "Yeah, I've noticed that. But oh well."

"You shouldn't wear it anymore, Takeru. It's not like I'm saying it looks bad, it's just… How should I put this? Something you should have left back in middle school. I mean, I used to wear some gross stuff too, but as soon as I got to high school I knew to leave it all behind. It's okay, maybe Kyoto doesn't have the same kind of fashions as we do here, which is why I'm telling you. You might just not have known."

I loved my hat, but maybe she had a point about looking stupid. I didn't want to look like some strange guy next to Miku. I already looked bad enough standing next to her without any weird hats to mess me up even more. I took my hat off. "I probably have tons of hat hair, huh?"

"Yeah," she said, laughing. "Don't worry. It's cute."

Well, if she thought it was cute, then who was I to complain? Sure, I missed the feeling of my trusty old hat, but maybe it was time for a change. I shoved the hat in my backpack.

"Why don't we go over to your place?" Miku asked. "I'd love to see where you live."

If Miku didn't like my hat, she definitely wouldn't like where I lived. It was too messy and small to take her to. Even if she didn't say it, she would be judging me and my apartment the whole time. I knew she lived in an actual house, and I couldn't impress her with my rundown apartment.

"How about we go to yours instead?" I asked. "I haven't been in many houses around here." House prices were so high that nearly everyone I knew lived in an apartment. Actually, Miku was the only one I knew who had a house.

"Fine," she said. "But I'm warning you, it's noting special."

-x-

She was wrong. Her house was huge and clean and amazing. It was near the beach and had three stories that each had their own decks. Her parents weren't there, but the housekeeper was. Miku showed me around from room to room, and I grew more amazed at each one. She had a plasma TV in her _kitchen_. She said it was so they could watch the cooking channel. The first story was all the main living area, with a few guest rooms. Her dining room and living room weren't attached – they were actually two separate rooms. Up on the second story was her parents' level. They had a master bedroom bigger than my whole apartment. It had its own living room area with another huge TV. The attached bathroom was bigger than my room and Matt's room combined. And the office was spotless and clean. Miku said her story was the third one, and her parents rarely came up there. She had decorated her room, the same size as her parents', with purple wallpaper and white carpeting. Her view across the bay to Tokyo was amazing. She even had a loft in her bedroom that led up to a mini-room. She also had her own office and bathroom, the same floor layout as the previous floor. Miku led me through her house so nonchalantly that I couldn't help but wonder what she would really think of my apartment.

"So, yeah, that's it," she said. "Boring, huh?"

"No way!" I replied. "I wasn't even expecting this to be more than one story!"

"Takeru, you're so easily impressed," she said, flopping on her white king bed. "Kyo's house is way bigger than this." She looked at me. "Come on, sit down," she said, patting the spotless, fluffy bed next to her. I obeyed, feeling weird sitting there on her bed. I sat on the very edge, a little away from her. "Kari said you're going to Kyo's party too," she continued, examining her nails. They were nice nails, I noticed. All the same length and all shiny, like she'd gotten them done specially. "Is that right?"

I nodded. "She invited me, yeah."

Miku looked annoyed. "That Kari. She pretends like Davis invited her specially, but he only did it to try and get back with me. He was really inviting me, but Kari thinks _she's_ so special that she can invite anyone else too. Like you. Not that you're not cool or anything – I'm really glad you're coming. It's just that whenever Kari gets any kind of power, like she thinks she's special, she shows it off _so_ shamelessly."

I nodded, though that hadn't seemed what Kari was like. I had thought she had invited me because she was nice and I'd just moved there... but Miku did know her better, after all.

"Anyway, what are you wearing?" she asked.

I nearly panicked. It was tomorrow and I hadn't even thought of that yet. Miku was obsessed with fashion. Why was I so stupid?

"I'm not sure," I said. "I… um, like you said, the styles are different here from Kyoto. What would you, ah, recommend I wear?"

"Not the hat," Miku said with a lazy smile. "You're a guy, you don't have to look good. I mean, your clothes can just be whatever, really. You already look good enough naturally. Just wear something that won't stand out too much, you know?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so," I said, not knowing what she meant at all.

"Don't worry, I'll be standing out enough for both of us," she said. "Takeru, why don't you lay down here? My bed's really comfortable."

I thought she was mad at me, then remembered that she just used that name. Would I ever get used to it? It reminded me of my mom, and that reminded me of how much I missed her. I had called her once since school started, right after my first day. I wondered if she was waiting for me to call her back again.

"Takeru, did you hear me?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Of course," I lied.

She sat up, annoyed. "Of course what?"

"Um… whatever you said." Oh crap.

"I asked you to lie down!" she said, eyes narrowed. "Have you been listening to me at all?"

I turned red at what she'd said. She had asked me to lie down? What was she planning on? "I have been, just not right then… Sorry," I said.

"It's fine," she said, face returning back to normal. She laid back again. "I'll forgive you as long as you just try out my bed. Don't you want to see what it's like where I sleep?"

I reluctantly laid back against her bed, half scared she would rape me or something. Miku was kind of scary when she was mad, like a few seconds before. She scooted closer to me. "See, isn't it comfortable?" she asked me softly.

I was probably in a position a lot of guys would kill to be in, and most teenage guys longed to be in basically every second. So why did it feel so… um, I don't know actually. It just felt weird, like it was wrong or something. Probably because I barely even knew Miku and I was already lying on a bed with her? Thinking about how awkward this was, and seeing that Miku was inching even closer to me, I sat up abruptly. I couldn't explain why. I just didn't want to be there, no matter how much I liked Miku – which actually wasn't that much, considering I'd only known her a few days.

"What's wrong now?" she demanded.

"I forgot…" I said, trying to come up with some excuse to get me out of there. "I promised I'd help Matt out with some band stuff after school. He's not really the technical type, and his normal technician Izzy has something else to do."

"Oh," Miku said. Luckily, it looked like she'd bought it. I jumped off her bed just as she sat up. "So you're going now." It was more a statement than a question.

"Yeah, sorry," I said. "I just remembered… See you tomorrow, though, right?"

"Right," Miku said. "At school and Kyo's party. Remember to forget the hat."

"Gotcha! Okay! Bye, Miku!"

"See you, Takeru," she said as I left her room and went bounding down the stairs. For about the millionth time that day, I thought she was using that name because she was mad at me.

-x-

Eww, huh? xD I'm not exactly sure about the name of the next chapter, but it's Yolei's! Please review!


	24. twentytwo:not such a bad day:yolei

Hey everyone! Last chapter got the msot reviews yet, and I feel like I should throw a party... So, erm, Kyo's party will officially be thrown in honor of getting the most reviews on the last chapter. xD

Thank you to all the reviewers, and I'll now address you personally and such...

**Khajmer: **That's pretty much how everyone feels about Miku. xD In fact, I could probably insert that statement in all of the review replies... Hm... x3 Anyway, to be fair to Miku, she _probably_ wasn't actually going to rape him. Um. Probably. xD;

**Depthmon: **I would have been scared in TK's place too. xD Even though Miku probably wouldn't hit on me, seeing as she just goes for guys... But oh well! I like the idea, and I'll try to incorporate it into the plotline eventually... If Kari ever starts liking TK, that is... And who knows if that'll ever happen:3

**Hikari Yagami 24: **I know how you feel, I'm being such a slow updater these days. xD Everytime I go online, I'm like "oh man I should be doing college apps"... and then I cry. xD I'm glad you enjoy her chapters, and I hope you like this one! She's not much of her usual angry self, so I'm sorry if that's the part you like. xD And I'm sorry to hear about your scores... D: I actually did well, which was surprising seeing as everyone I've talked to did worse than they thought... Don't worry though, everyone keeps telling me SATs are like one-millionth of the applications. Which stresses me out even more because of all the other stuff I have to do. xD

**sunflowers: **Aw, come on, Miku's just... erm, a controlling kind of person! She deserves to be loved as much as anyone else! (awkward silence)...okay, I hate her too. xD

**OversizedBucket: **Yep, seems like everyone hates Miku now! Maybe I shouldn't have made her so horrible... But then again, she can be the character everyone loves to hate. ;3 Sunny, that's a cool name. 8D Our best player was named Ben, but she was a girl... o-o; I'm not really sure why. And the college class I took was a beginning philosophy class. What'd you take in high school? Meaning in terms of the college class you mentioned? xD

**agroxneko: **Thanks. ;3 I like writing Yolei and Ken chapters too... Well, I also like writing all the other chapters, but whatever. xD I feel like Davis and Yolei chapters are the easiest to write because they talk a lot so it goes quicker, TK and Kari chapters are the most fun to write because of the whole Miku mess, and Ken and Cody chapters are the hardest to write... Ken has such an extensive vocabulary, and mine sucks, so it's kind of hard to sound credible or come off sounding like him. xD; And I think Cody is the character I have least developed, because he was always the hardest to read on the show for me. Oh well. xD Um, so I just realized you left one of the shortest reviews and this reply is like monstrously long. o-o; Sorry about that... rambling time over now!

**Paulagirl: **Shh, don't let Miku hear you... That would be scary, wouldn't it? o-o; To see Miku coming after you or something. xD Aww, Davis and Kaoru would be cute... too bad I already wrote one of the three Kyo's party chapters, where that doesn't work so well... um, forget you read that! ;; I need to not put spoilers in here. xD But perhaps in the future, down the road a little... Thanks for the idea!

**MadamePika:** I'm glad you like Miku's character (well, think she's well done anyway. I don't know if anyone could actually like her character). I wasn't feeling like she was that realistic myself, or that I was being lazy and making her a stereotypical mean girl thingy. I'm trying to make her more unique, but I'm glad you think she's believable! ;3

**blessed-with-a-curse: **Haha, for once, yeah. xD I'm really trying not to give anything away, so I can't say if they'll listen to them or not. x3 I take it you're a Takari fan and not a Tamiku fan then? xDD (Do Tamiku fans even exist?) Ahh, hate mail? To me? Or Miku? Cause I can give you her address if you want. xD

Now, onto the chapter!

We made it to Friday of the first week! Haha, don't worry… Like I said, it'll start going faster soon. But Friday is a day that slows down a lot, because of many memorable events like KYO'S PARTY! Yay! xD

Okay, the beginning of this chapter's gonna be confusing, since she's taking an English test, but the fic is in English and um… Yeah. So just imagine that the italicized question is in Japanese. xD

All words that are supposed to be in English in the fic will appear in **bold**!

**:: twenty-two : not such a bad day : yolei ::**

_What is the word for 'happy' in English?_

I tapped the pencil on my desk for a second, then remembered. It was '**sad**', right? Right! With a small grin, I scribbled the English characters for the word '**sad**' under the question. Yes, that was the last one! I was DONE with my first English 1 test! Well, okay, the first one of this year, anyway.

Triumphantly, I marched my test up to the front of the class and handed it in to the teacher with a smile. She smiled back, then took my paper. As I walked back to my desk, I felt so happy. I'd studied like crazy for this test. I had suddenly become determined to be the best student ever so I wouldn't have to be held back again. In fact, I was going to be the best student in the whole freshman class! Well, maybe besides Ken. He was just too wonderful and smart to ever beat.

I even felt charitable to the dumb freshmen. The one who had asked me for a donut a few days ago had needed a pencil for this test, and I had graciously loaned him one. Okay, so it was a pink sparkly one, and the glitter glued to the pencil had stuck to his fingers and scattered on his test (and I'll admit, that was kind of my plan), but still. I had studied for hours, and I knew I had just aced this test. How could I not be nice?

The bell rang and I collected my sparkly pencil from donut-boy. It was time for Seminar Group! It was the first time I'd get to see Ken all day! I'd been in the library studying even more for this test during lunch, so I hadn't been able to secretly check him out in the cafeteria, where he always ate with Cody. I always wanted to join them, but Saku and Aya probably wouldn't have wanted to sit with freshmen, no matter how cool and amazing Ken was.

Sure, I'd also have to see Davis, but he was now my slave. He looked kind of scared of me now every time he saw me even though I hadn't come up with any tasks for him to do yet. I was kind of thinking about making him force Kyo to let my friends (Saku, Aya, and of course my best friend EVER, Ken!) come to his party, but it didn't seem like something Ken would want to go to. I was still brainstorming on ways to use Davis to the best of my abilities.

As I nearly pranced down the hallway, glad it was Friday and Seminar Group was barely a class, Kari caught up with me. Of course, she was in my English class and had just taken the test, too.

"Hi, Yolei," she said with a faint smile. We hadn't talked since she'd given me cupcakes, but maybe she felt like she could approach me safely since I was in such a good mood after the test.

"Hey, Kari!" I said, smiling back. "I never got to thank you for the cupcakes. They were awesome! I nearly ate them all in one sitting, but then I had to go work in my parent's store and when I came back, my siblings had gotten to the remaining two." I sighed at the memory. "They're like dogs. They eat anything you leave out."

She giggled. "Well, I'm glad you liked the ones you had. So we're cool?"

I nodded. Hey, if I'd been nice to donut-boy, I could be nice to Kari, right? "Yeah, we're cool. What'd you think of the test?"

She seemed happy that I wasn't mad anymore, but made a face at the mention of the test. "That was pretty bad," she said. "I didn't study enough. I had to go with Tai to take my parents to the airport, so I didn't really have much time."

"Oh, I'm sorry… That sucks. I studied tons… I thought it was so easy!" I realized that this might be taken as bragging, especially if Kari hadn't done well. "Um, sorry."

"It's okay," she said, laughing. "It's my fault for not studying."

We'd reached out Seminar Group room. On the door of the room was a sign that said 'D-TACKY!!!: Davis, Takeru, Amber, Cody, Kikari, and Yolei!'

"Um, isn't your name Hikari?" I asked. "It says Kikari."

"I guess Ms. Hall forgot that I used my nickname Kari when we made the name of our Seminar Group," Kari laughed. "And then she looked at the class list and thought there was a typo."

Inside our Seminar Group, Davis was already waiting. His face lit up when he saw Kari, and I smirked. "Hi, Davis!" I trilled.

"Hi Kari! Oh, uh, and Yolei. Wow, Yolei, you're looking pretty today," Davis said flatly. Ah, blackmail. Kari, looking confused, waved at Davis.

"Relax, Davis. I'm in a good mood today," I said as I sat down in one of the chairs. "I'm not going to enforce anything. Not even flattering."

"Huh?" Kari asked.

"Nothing!" Davis said. "Yolei and I are just… joking! We're old… buddies… now."

"Um, okay," Kari said. "Does that mean you're coming to Kyo's party tonight, Yolei?"

I shook my head. I didn't even want to. "Nope," I said. "Davis invited me, but I don't really feel like going. I'm going to hang out with my friends tonight."

"Oh, okay," Kari said. "Well, if you change your mind, you should come! I'm so excited. It's gonna be so much fun!"

I suddenly felt the urge to protect innocent Kari from Kyo's parties.. "Be careful there," I warned. "Those stupid upperclassmen get a little crazy at those things."

Kari laughed, confusing me. "What?" I asked.

"Stupid upperclassmen?" she repeated. "What happened to stupid freshmen?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Oh, I don't know," I said. "I guess I'm just in an overly good mood today. I love all my fellow freshmen, even if they are younger than me."

"Even Davis?" Kari asked.

"Even Davis," I affirmed. "I'd hug him if I wasn't sitting down already."

"What a friendly gesture," Davis forced himself to say.

Ken was next to enter the room, much to my delight. "Hi, Ken!" I called. Okay, he always used big words, so I would too! "I just completed my first English 1… um, mental measurement this scholastic year. I studied… profusely, and the test was… It was…" Dammit, I couldn't think of a word! Where was my thesaurus when I needed it?

"Easy?" Ken supplied.

"Yeah!" I grinned at him. Okay, so I'd been going for something like straightforward or unproblematic or effortless or something, but whatever.

"Congratulations," Ken said, coming to sit next to me. "**How are you**?" he asked me in English.

I could only stare at him. What was he saying? Oh! He was asking me how I was! That had been on the test… It was all about emotions. Uhh… "**Much sad**," I replied happily.

"Um… Are you certain?" he asked. "You don't seem sad to me."

I blinked. "Right! I said I was very happy, right?"

"No, you said you were sad."

I froze, then collapsed. Pulling myself back up again, I gave him a weak smile. "That's fine! Perfectly… satisfactory! I answered one question badly, but I am positively certain that the remaining answers were correct!"

Ken nodded with a tiny smile.

HE SMILED AT ME!

I nearly died. I'd done well on my English test, I might have found a new friend in Kari (not to mention Donut-Boy), and the genius I was madly in love with had just _smiled_ at me. Maybe I was already dead, cause this was definitely heaven!

-x-

Haha. I love Yolei. xD Anyway, aren't you excited for Kyo's party??? I know I am! xD Next chapter, though, belongs to Cody. Then comes Davis' turn… and you know what that means! Party! 8D Okay, please review!


	25. twentythree:invitation:cody

Hi everyone. ;3 Hope you're doing well... I have here chapter 23, yay!

Thank you to the four lovely reviewers from last chapter: **Oversized Bucket, MadamePika, Depthmon, **and** Khajmer**! Okay, so the number of reviews went down from last time, but oh well. xD

Looking at the stats of this story is really weird... Like some chapters will have over 400 hits, and chapters even before those will have something like 80. o-o; So I guess people are skipping some of the chapters, which is fine, I guess. xD I mean, I can't be like "BLAH BLAH BLAH READ EVERYTHING", cause I know some chapter are more interesting than others. I guess all I can say is that it'll make your life easier when reading this story to have read most or all of the chapters. There are certain things that are talked about a lot, like Kyo's party, but also other things that are just as important to the story that can be missed if one or two chapters are skipped...

Starting here (in case I forget), I'll also have a summary of the last chapter at the top of the page, just before each new chapter begins. Hopefully this'll help too... But of course not _everything_ will be in there. Erm, no point in saying that, I suppose, cause I think you guys are smart enough to know what a summary is... xD; ANYWAY!

**Oversized Bucket:** Ah, I hate math. xD I'm taking pre-calculus right now, but... it's in high school. Meaning I'm sure it's tons easier. And my first choice is UC Berkeley. ;3 I have a few backups like University of Oregon/Washington, NYU, and some other smaller colleges... I just hope I can get into Cal.

**MadamePika: **Don't worry, I don't think Daimiku will be making a comeback, seeing as Davis kind of hates Miku now and Miku never really gives guys a second chance, except in very rare cases (if they're Yamato or something - but that comes in later!). I agree, Davis and Yolei would be kind of cute together if they could stand each other. Or maybe it's even better if they can't... xD

**Depthmon: **I know, poor Yolei. I would do tons worse in Japanese though. xD And I'm excited for the party too! There are actually going to be around three party chapters, but I haven't decided if they're going to take place all at the party or not. Anyway, the first one's coming next so it'll be up soon!

**Khajmer: **Don't worry, bitchy Yolei isn't dead yet. xD She'll be making a lot more appearances... Maybe not in the next few chapters, but certainly soon. I tried to make her like how she was on the show, meaning insanely hyperly happy one minute and about to kill someone the next. And you can imagine that time spent around freshmen will make her lean more towards the latter...

Okay, summary time!

Last chapter: Yolei was actually happy because she'd studied well for her English exam and thought she'd aced it - she was so happy that she even talked to Kari and forgave her for the whole mall-fight thingy (haha, about five million chapters ago). Then, she was trying to impress Ken in Seminar Group by using a big vocabulary and then speaking in English, where she found out all her answers on the test were wrong...

**:: twenty-three : the invitation : cody ::**

There was only a half hour before Seminar Groups were over. Then school would be over, and it would be the weekend. Was it weird that I didn't want it to be? I wished I could freeze time so that we would all have to stay here and I would never have to do what I was about to do.

Ms. Hall was asking us how we liked our first week there, and asked us what we'd thought of our new school so far. But instead of thinking about that, I was thinking about how I'd gotten into this mess, and how I'd been roped into doing this. I was thinking about what had made me such a nervous wreck. Why did I let my grandfather run my life, and when had my mother started doing it as well? My stomach ached with nerves. It had all started with the conversation I'd had with my grandfather and my mother at dinner last night.

"_Cody, did you eat with that Ken boy again today?" Grandfather asked, though he knew well that I had. Like he said, I lived on routine._

"_Yes, Grandfather," I answered._

"_Oh, it's so great that you've made a little friend already!" my mother exclaimed. "And he sounds like such a nice, quiet, studious young man. You said he went to boarding school in England?"_

"_Yes," I replied._

"_How glamorous! I wonder what he's doing back at the local public high school?"_

"_Do you have any plans with this Ken over the weekend?" Grandfather asked._

"_No," I said._

"_You should do something! Why don't you invite him over tomorrow night?" my mother suggested. "I'd love to meet him, and I bet you two would have a great time!"_

"_But… I have homework… And I have to practice my kendo… I want to be prepared for when the kendo club starts at school."_

"_Ah, yes. But Cody, you told me the kendo club has nowhere to practice until the construction is finished in the gymnasium. The kendo club will not meet until the second semester, and you have just started your first one," my grandfather said. "Besides, it is a Friday night. You should take a break from work then. If you want to work hard at your homework and kendo, you have the rest of the weekend to do that."_

"_You two can have a slumber party!" my mother said. "I can set up a sleeping bag in your room. It'll be great!"_

_I didn't know what to say. "But… how will I ask him?"_

"_It's easy," my mother said. "Just go up to him after school and ask! Then he can call his parents and ask them for permission. I'll be around if his parents need to talk to me."_

I'd finally given in to them. So now I had to ask Ken over to my house to sleep over. Why did my mother have to insist on that, too? Wasn't coming over for a few hours nerve-wracking enough? What would we even do?

"Cody, what about you?" Ms. Hall asked.

I blinked, coming out of my trance. Oops, I hadn't been paying attention. "I'm very sorry, but my mind wandered for a moment… Pardon?"

Davis snorted. "Cody, you're so polite all the time!"

"Better than being rude," Yolei said, glancing at Davis with a smirk. She seemed to be in a better mood today, and it was more of a joke than an insult.

"True, true, Yolei. You're such a genius," Davis said. This was a bit confusing…

"I was just asking what you thought about your first week at school here," Ms. Hall said.

"Oh! Well, I'm a little disappointed that the kendo club won't be meeting for a long time, but I guess I like it here so far. The classes are a lot bigger than at middle school, but the subjects don't seem to have gotten much harder yet."

"Are you overwhelmed by the class size at all?"

I was, but I felt stupid saying it. "Not really," I lied.

"Okay, good," Ms. Hall said. "What about you, Ken?"

How could I just ask Ken if he wanted to sleep over at my house? I hadn't known him very long at all, and we'd never spent any time together outside of school, or anything like that. What if Ken only wanted to be lunch friends? Not outside of school friends? I was surprised he'd let me eat with him. And inviting him over was much harder than just asking to eat with him! It meant I'd thought about it and wanted to be friends with him, instead of just glancing around offhandedly and picking a random table or something. I _could_ have done that, even if I hadn't.

"Well, the workload and rigor of the courses are incomparable with those of my old school. As Cody said, the classes are larger, as well," Ken told Ms. Hall.

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the classes aren't as challenging?" Ms. Hall asked.

"It's a bad thing," Ken said, frowning at her like it was an obvious question. "School is only effective if it is rigorous."

Yolei was nodding. "I completely agree," she said. "We're here to _learn_, not to slack off! I wish they'd make everything harder!"

I thought this was a strange point of her to make, since she was the one who had been held back because the classes were _too_ hard for her. But Ken, who was sitting next to her, nodded along with what she'd said as if he believed it entirely.

"What else do you think about the school, Yolei?" Ms. Hall asked.

"It's not like it's my first year here or anything," Yolei said. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. It was obvious that although this was still a sore subject, she was in a good mood today: she wasn't yelling or growling at anyone. "Like I said, the classes should be harder or else there's no point in taking them. And there needs to be more focus on actual schoolwork than other stupid stuff." She glanced at Ken for a split second. "The _frivolous_ stuff. Like homecoming and rallies and… the like."

Ms. Hall nodded. "So you're not a big school spirit person?"

Yolei shook her head. "Nope. I didn't go to any school events last year, and I'm sure I won't this year."

I was relieved. I thought everyone went to everything! I was worried about having to go and cheer at the homecoming game and find some girl who wasn't embarrassed that I was too young and too short to take to the homecoming dance. But Yolei hadn't gone to them, so I wouldn't have to either. I didn't know why I'd thought those were mandatory, but I had. Come to think of it, I didn't see Ken at something like that, either. Kari, TK, and Davis I could imagine.

"Aww, but school events are so fun!" Ms. Hall said. "I was a cheerleader in high school. Is anyone going to try out for cheerleading?" She looked around at us, excited. "Okay, so Yolei isn't, but someone else wants to, right?"

We were silent and avoided her eyes.

"Come on, Kari. I know you'd be perfect as a cheerleader!"

She smiled at Ms. Hall. "Um… I actually did think about it," she said, obviously lying. "But I don't have the time to focus on that… I have photography class, which is really difficult, and dance classes on the weekends. Not to mention all the stress from the homework we get!"

"Well, okay," Ms. Hall said. "Davis? You seem like you'd love to be a cheerleader!"

Yolei laughed. "_Davis_?"

"Boys can be cheerleaders too!" Ms. Hall said, defending her choice. "And Davis would be wonderful as a cheerleader."

Davis shook his head, his face red at the thought. "I'll stick to watching the cheerleaders," he said. Then, for some reason, he looked at Kari. "Just because, you know, they have good routines."

She nodded, obviously as confused as I was.

And once my mind had been distracted by other things, the bell rang. Davis leapt up. "FRIDAY!" he yelled. Kari, TK, and Yolei also got up quickly, looking excited. I wondered if it was because they were going to that party that everyone was talking about. Ken and I left more slowly, talking as we walked down the hallway.

"I don't know, I thought the image of Davis as a cheerleader was rather amusing," Ken said. "Perhaps that's only my opinion."

I shook my head, smiling. "You're right," I said, growing more and more nervous with each step we took. "It is funny. Um, Ken?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"I was wondering… um…" Okay, don't make it sound too awkward or else he'll think you're asking him out on a date, Cody! "If you wanted to sleep over at my house tonight?" I blurted out. My words were rushed and my face was red, but I had said it.

"Sure, I'd like to," he said. Why was he so much less awkward than I was? He said it easily, like it was no great effort to accept. "Thank you very much for the invitation, Cody. I'll call my mother right now and ask."

He pulled out his cell phone and got permission from his mother. From the questions Ken was answering, it seemed like she was very excited. Maybe Ken didn't do lots of things like this, either. I felt the redness in my face gradually subside, thankfully. My legs were still kind of wobbly, but I had asked! I had asked and he had said yes!

It dawned on me that even though I'd asked him, there was still a whole awkward time stretching in front of me. What was I supposed to do when Ken came over? Almost as quickly as my nervousness had gone away, it came back.

-x-

The end! Next chapter is Davis' and is called "party time!". So you know what it's about. xD Yaaaay Kyo's party! Um, anyway, please **_REVIEW!_** 8D


	26. twentyfour:party time!:davis

Hello everyone! 8D Time for the party chapter, hooray!

But first. There is some urgent business we must attend to.

Thank you to Depthmon, Khajmer, mcr-rules089, Oversized Bucket, blessed-with-a-curse, The Illustionest, Iris Violetta, and Savi2070. You guys are so cool. ;3

Specific questions/whatever in your reviews!:

Khajmer: Hehe, you caught that, huh? I did that as a kind of ironic thingy. Thinking back on it, I probably shouldn't have done that seeing as I'm trying to stick to their characters sans Digital World. But it's not like Cody saw Ken in any acts of evil or whatever, so... yeah. x3

Oversized Bucket: No, Yolei isn't going... She just likes to tell everyone that she was "invited" (meaning she could have forced Davis, her slave, to invite her if she wanted to). And yes, there will be two party chapters in a row, then it'll break off and go to Cody's house, then back... There will also be some more stuff that night that doesn't take place at Kyo's or Cody's house... Hehe... Anyway, I hope you like the first party chapter!

blessed-with-a-curse: Haha, Cody has SUCH a schoolgirl crush on Ken. Guess he and Yolei will have to fight over him... But yeah, Yolei is really obvious. Ken is a genius except when it comes to seeing that girls like him.

Iris Violetta: Yay! I hope you like this chapter, which mentions (I went back to check xD) four of the original Digidestined - not including TK and Kari, of course. Two of those four are actually in it, and they won't be in the party much because of...erm...something I can't give away yet. But they'll be coming back in soon! Sora and Izzy still have to make their first appearances.

Savi2070: Aw, thanks. ;3 I'm glad you're addicted! Muahaha... xD That makes me feel special, especially since you're not even into Digimon fanfics... Yay I feel loved!

If you couldn't tell, the edit slash preview window thing isn't letting me bold, underline, or italicize. So um yeah. And I was too dumb to type this in Word. And too lazy to go back now. Sorry if it's ugly. xD

To catch you up: Cody was having another awkward freshman-but-really-much-younger-and-even-shorter moment, and his grandfather and mother decided to torture him by forcing him to invite Ken over for a sleepover. Cody stressed over this the whole day, but when Seminar Groups got out and it was time to go home, Cody finally got the courage to ask Ken over! Ken accepted in his non-awkward manner, of course. And while Cody and Ken are at the former's house, and Yolei is hanging out with her best friends Saku and Aya, Kyo will be throwing one of his infamous parties... Attended, of course, by such glamorous characters as the well-loved soccer captain Taichi Kamiya and the legendary musician Yamato Ishida; their (respective) siblings the goody-two-shoes Hikari Kamiya and the mysterious New Student Takeru Takaishi; the-guys'-best-friend tennis star Sora Takenouchi and her best friend and polar opposite, the pink-wearing queen of the school, Mimi Tachikawa; the Mimi-wannabe Miku, who already has a worse reputation as a freshman than her senior idol, and her easygoing best friend Kaoru; ummm some random soccer people; others; etc; etc.

That was incredibly long. o-o;

Here we go!

:: twenty-four : party time : davis ::

PARTY TIME!

We all met up at the Kamiya apartment after we'd changed for the party. I was the first one there (besides Kari's friends, who were getting ready with her, and Tai) and Kari answered the door, still in her school uniform.

I glanced at it, and she said, "I'm still trying to decide what to wear!"

"Oh, okay," I said. "Hey, I brought these for you!" I handed her a small box of chocolates that I'd picked up on the way there.

"Wow, thanks!" she said with a big smile. "Kaoru and Miku and I _love_ these. You must know that from when you and Miku went out, right? What a good memory, and you're so thoughtful!"

Damn. She didn't realize they were just for her? Oh well, maybe she did and she just wanted to… share. She was nice like that. I sat in their living room with Tai as the girls got ready in Kari and Tai's room. Tai wore his soccer jacket from last year over a red T-shirt and baggy blue jeans. I grinned to see I was wearing almost the exact same thing, but I didn't have a jacket and my shirt was blue. Tai and I talked about soccer until the doorbell rang. It was Yamato and TK. Yamato wore black jeans, a black leather jacket, and a navy blue shirt. TK was wearing a long-sleeved green shirt and a black jacket over it, as well as black jeans. It looked like Yamato had helped dress TK.

"Hey, guys!" Tai greeted them. "The girls are still getting ready, but you know how girls are. I bet Sora is gonna be so late to the party."

"Sora's not the kind of girl who's obsessed with her appearance," Yamato said dubiously.

"I know! But she's coming with _Mimi_." They both laughed.

"Dude, are you gonna make your move on Miku tonight?" I whispered to TK, who sat down next to me. I knew how thin the walls were in these apartments.

He shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't known her that long yet… Shouldn't I get to know her better before I do?" He glanced to Yamato, as if he'd told TK that he should.

I shook my head. "Nah, with Miku you gotta move _fast_. Before she gets bored and moves onto someone else!" I laughed. "That's what she did with me. I don't care anymore, though. I'm glad."

"Really?" he asked, like he couldn't believe anyone could be glad they weren't with Miku. "Why?"

I shrugged, smiling. "She's just not the girl for me, that's all."

"Well, I guess I'm glad she's not with you anymore too," TK laughed and stopped talking so quietly. "So how far is Kyo's house?"

"Dude, here's the thing, it's pretty damn far. There's no way to take the subway there either. I wanted to drive but the only guys who can drive are Tai and Yamato, and they're definitely not the designated driver type, you know?"

"Yeah… I didn't think my brother was. How long does it take to walk?" TK asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe like a half an hour. It's actually a short distance, but it's all uphill, which is fucking _annoying_."

"Are they ready yet?" Yamato asked. "What's taking them so long?"

"What, worried that some other guy's gonna hit on Sora?" Tai teased. I knew he and Yamato had this whole love triangle shit with Sora. She was cool, but if I had to go for any senior it would be her best friend Mimi. Now_she's_ hot. Not that I'd go for her over Kari, though.

"It's not effortless being gorgeous!" Miku called back from Kari's room. "It takes awhile, Matty! But we're done!" She opened the door and stepped out. "No oogling, please."

Miku, as usual, was dressed in some tiny tight thing. Her tank top was striped with purple and black and cut off somewhere before her belly button. She wore a black skirt that looked impossible to walk in and purple heels that looked just as difficult. She stood with a confident smile.

"Okay, okay," I said, eager to see Kari. "Can you move or something? You're blocking the door."

She looked annoyed. "You know I'm hot, Davis. Don't deny it." But she moved away to go near TK so Kari and Kaoru could get out, too. They were wearing much less trashy clothes. Kaoru had on jeans and a light blue tanktop that actually covered her stomach (unlike Miku's). She was cute, but Kari… she looked the best of all three by far.

Kari wore a tight, light pink tank top and a black skirt that fell to about her knees. Over her shirt was a black jacket. Okay, so her outfit was nothing special, but she still looked really pretty. She wore a black choker around her neck that had a light pink star-shaped stone on it. Miku had evidently done her makeup and hair: I dunno what she did to her eyes, but they stood out a lot more. And she must have been wearing lipstick or something. Her shoulder length brown hair was usually very straight, but now it was wavy. How had Miku done that all so fast?

"Finally," Yamato said. "Let's go." I noticed that TK was the only one actually checking Miku out. I wasn't sure if that made her annoyed, because she loves to be the center of attention. I really didn't care, and drifted over to Kari.

"I found something," she said, giggling.

"You look great," I said. "Really, really… uh, great…"

"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself!"

Did that mean she thought I was hot? Did that mean she liked me? Whatever, she'd just complimented me! Yes! I was going to stay next to her the whole time at the party. It was gonna be awesome. _Fucking_ awesome.

-x-

Once we got there, both Tai and Yamato left to find Sora. Miku led TK to go sit on the couch with her and talk. So me and Kari and Kaoru were all together, which was annoying. How was I supposed to get Kari all to myself? It was kind of hard to flirt with her when Kaoru was there the whole time.

I told them I'd be right back, then went through the huge house, looking for someone who could help. I found Nao, basically my lifesaver. "Hey, Nao! Dude, I totally forgot you had a crush on Kaoru."

He glanced around. "Not so loud, Davis!" Nao was kinda shy for being so popular. He was even blushing and shit.

"Well, she's here… The thing is, I'm trying to get some quality alone time with Kari, you know? And Kaoru's kind of there too… So it's like this total win-win situation if you, like, come up and ask if she wants a tour of the house, or something. Only don't do the whole 'this is the bedroom and my feet are kinda tired so let's sit down on the bed and later make out' thing, okay?"

"That's your thing anyway," Nao said. "Sure, let's go!" He looked excited. Once he asked Kaoru if she wanted to see Kyo's house, she looked excited too. She sent Kari a wide-eyed smile and went off with Nao.

"Ahh, young love," I said with a grin. "Do you want a drink or something?"

Kari was watching someone over my shoulder. I looked behind me to see she was staring at TK and Miku. They were sitting pretty close together, and Miku's hand rested on TK's arm. She was going into make-a-move-mode now. I vaguely remembered it, though I didn't want to. These days, Miku was like puke and Kari was like… anti-puke. Or something.

"Kari? Do you?" I wondered why she was so obsessed with what they were doing.

"Huh? Sorry, Davis."

"Do you want a drink?"

"Oh, yeah." She still looked distracted. "Let's go… get one."

"Okay! I'll show you the kitchen!" I took her into the kitchen and showed her all the drinks in Kyo's huge fridge. It's pretty amazing… One wall of his kitchen is like a supermarket or something. It's all clear fridges. Kari was impressed.

"What do you recommend?" she asked.

"Well, I dunno. Are you the alcohol type?" I grinned.

She stared at me, like she'd thought this party was going to have balloon animals and party bags instead of alcohol. "Guess not," I said.

"No," she said quickly. "Tonight I might be."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I guess," she said. "I just…" She thought for a moment. "I really like TK."

"Wh-what?" I asked. Was she seriously confessing her love or whatever for TK? "You _like_ him?" I sputtered. I couldn't believe it! What about _me_???

"Oh! As a friend!" she said quickly. "Um, yeah. And Miku is always so mean to guys she hooks up with, you know? I just don't want TK getting hurt."

Relieved, I nodded. "Yeah, she is a bitch like that. I mean, to guys sometimes. But what can you do about it? He likes her, and it seems like she likes him."

She looked down. "Yeah, I know. I can't do anything." She looked in the fridge. "If I were to be an alcohol type, what would you recommend?"

"Kyo doesn't have any fancy drinks or nothing like that. I think they're doing shots downstairs, in the room with the pool table. The billiard room? Anyway, you can't go wrong with good old beer," I said with a grin. She'd probably never had alcohol before, but she was in high school now. That was probably old enough. I mean, I'd had it before I was in high school. And Kari seemed worried about TK getting hurt by Miku, so drinking would loosen her up and we could have fun.

"Sounds good!" she said. I opened the fridge and got two beers. Luckily, Kyo had twist-offs and none of the fancy bottle cap kinds, so we opened them easily. I clinked my bottle together with Kari's. "To us!" I said as a dumb little toast.

"Uh, yeah!" she said, then drank from the bottle. After swallowing it, she made a face. "Not as sweet as I thought it would be."

"Hey, you want a sweeter drink? I can make you one!" I pulled a bottle of vodka out of the freezer section of the giant fridge, then got some orange juice from the fridge. "This is called a screwdriver," I said as Kari watched me mix the two liquids. I think I probably put in too much vodka, cause when she tasted it, she made another face.

"This is good," she said, surprising me. "A tiny bit bitter, but still good. You wanna go back to the living room area? I kind of want to sit down."

"Sure!" I led her back in there and we sat down on one of Kyo's many couches. "You know, I didn't want to say it in front of the others, but you look beautiful tonight!"

But she was watching TK and Miku instead. The smile fell off my face. Why was she so worried about TK? He could take care of himself. It wasn't like he wasn't into Miku. She wasn't about to _rape_ him or anything! Why couldn't she pay attention to me?

"Um, Kari?" I asked. Had she even heard what I'd said?

"Sorry, what?" she asked. Then she drank the rest of her screwdriver in one gulp. I stared at her, smiling. Guess she liked it!

"I said you look beautiful tonight," I told her.

"Oh, thanks!" she said. "You're sweet, Davis…"

"Want another one?" I asked, pointing at her empty glass.

She smiled at me and gave me the glass. "_So_ sweet."

Yes! Things were going great!

-x-

Were they, Davis, really?

Umm anyway. Kari's chapter is next! Let me know what you think of this chapter in your REVIEWS, please! Reviews, of course, are greatly loved and/or appreciated. Yay!


	27. twentyfive:effect of screwdrivers:kari

Hey everyone! ;3 Chapter two of the party sequence (or… something) is here! I hope you like it, even if most of you had a negative reaction to Kari drinking.

Hopefully this chapter will help you understand why she would… There are a few reasons I wanted to have her drink at the party. The first is that I wanted to show the kind of pressure put on high school kids to fit in and whatnot, especially by drinking or doing drugs. (I felt that drinking was probably the lesser of several evils, and I don't have any experience to base doing drugs off of like I unfortunately have with drinking… ugh.) That reason is basically Kari's reasoning for drinking, and you'll hear more about it in this chapter. The other reason is kind of secret right now. :3 It'll come up in later chapters, but I had to have something happen which is a result from Kari's drinking and whatnot… Erm, you'll see later. xD

I'm trying to make this fic as realistic as I can (sorry if it doesn't seem that way to you, but I'm generally basing it off things I've experienced to try and make it believable). So I thought I had to include something about peer pressure and the like.

Whew, okay. Explanation done. xD

Thank you to **Depthmon, Oversized Bucket, blessed-with-a-curse, shadowpawz, Khajmer, sunflowers, Madame Pika, **and **Paulagirl**. We're at 85 reviews and it's all thanks to you guys!

Now to reply to the reviewers! Thought I'd just put those two paragraphs at the top so everyone would read them, instead of repeating myself in the review replies. :3

**Depthmon:** I'll try and incorporate the Yolei-Davis slave thing soon! xD And I'll try to update faster as well. Hopefully the chapter summaries help you keep up…

**Oversized Bucket:** Anti-puke, yes. xD Oh, the thoughts of Davis… And sorry about the whole Mimi thing… I always think she's the same age as the others, but she and Izzy are a year younger… Nice job catching it though! You are kind of a genius, seeing as I proofread it like a million times. xD

**Madame Pika:**Hopefully I replied to your review in those two paragraphy things. xD Though I didn't mention Davis's reasons for serving Kari drinks… Basically, he's an ignorant fourteen year old who doesn't know much about alcohol except that he likes consuming it and that it loosens people up. He does know that too much can get you drunk, but Kari's alcohol tolerance is probably a lot less than that of him or his friends. He's actually not trying to get her drunk. He's just a typical freshman boy. (No offense to any male freshmen here, but you'll feel the same way about guys in your age group in a few years xD). And about the whole dubbed thing – I've only seen the dubbed version, unfortunately. D: Are the characters a lot different in the original?

**Paulagirl:** Nice story. ;D But I left a review that's a bit more thorough. xD

Here we go!

Last chapter: They all arrive at Kyo's party and break off into little groups. Tai and Matt vanish, Miku and TK claim one of the couches as their own, and even little Kaoru goes off with the boy she likes, leaving Davis and Kari alone. Kari's a little preoccupied with watching Miku and TK to pay attention to Davis. Davis, wanting Kari to loosen up so they can have fun, offers her a Screwdriver – that's a drink, people. And we go from there…

**:: twenty-five : the effect of screwdrivers : kari ::**

Things were going_terribly_.

So I wasn't the pessimistic type, but I couldn't help it. Miku was going to hurt TK so much. Why did she have to do this?

Luckily, the drinks Davis kept making me helped me forget about that a little bit. Or not forget, but feel better about it. At first I felt weird, drinking them. I'd never had alcohol before. But I felt stupid when Davis asked if I wanted a drink. I'd been expecting… oh, I don't know. Soda or something. And then I realized how stupid and immature and babyish that was. This was an actual party. People in high school drank alcohol. I didn't know why I was so surprised. Miku, Kaoru, and I had talked about this over the summer.

I remembered our conversation.

"We're going to be invited to lots and lots of parties," Miku said. "Maybe even upperclassman parties. But the thing is, since we'll just be freshmen and they'll be much older, we'll be like… not completely accepted. Like we'll be invited, but what we do at the party will show them whether or not they want to accept us and invite us again, or hate us forever and make our lives a living hell."

Kaoru's eyes were wide. "What do we do?"

"Well, I'm already accepted by them. But you guys won't be. Not even as Tai's sister," Miku told me. "But you guys just have to act cool. Don't be a prude like usual! Go ahead and make out with guys if they want to. Just don't be too stupid or slutty. And if someone offers you a drink or a joint or anything, accept it."

I remember I'd been kind of shocked. I knew I wouldn't accept any pills or anything, but I didn't want them to hate me. Like Miku said, Kaoru and I had to prove to everyone else that we were cool and high school party worthy.

In retrospect, of course, I would come to regret this stupid weakness I had for following the crowd. It made me subordinate to Miku and made me do idiotic things at Kyo's party. It would also make me very, very jealous of Yolei and her ability to ignore all of it. It made her cooler than anyone who was actually popular.

Yes, I would come to realize all this, but only in retrospect.

At the party, I was only thinking of Miku's words, my desire to be accepted, and the happy couple nearby. I was so worried about TK getting hurt. But I realized that the drinks made such a nice warm happy feeling inside of me that I began to believe Miku and TK were truly in love and would never hurt each other. I mean, why would she hurt him? He was so nice and cute and intelligent, unlike a lot of other guys she'd been out with before. She must have been in love with him. Or at least like him a lot. Why wouldn't she?

"Woah, you still want more?" Davis was asking me. He seemed a little worried now.

"Is that okay? Don't worry, I'm not drunk or anything. Besides, however much you put in isn't enough to get me drunk. It's just enough to make it taste better!" I had no idea what Vodka even was, or how strong it was. Again, something I'd cringe about later.

"Uh, probably," he said. Apparently he didn't know much either.

"Just one more?" I asked. "Pretty please? Davis, you've had a bunch too."

"Are you sure you should have any more?" Davis asked. "You've had more than I have, and I can hold my drink pretty good… I don't want you to get all sick and everything…"

"Aw, come on," I said. He was frowning and biting his lip. His expression kind of made him look like a puppy, and even though I liked cats better than dogs, I couldn't help but find it adorable. "You're cute when you're worried, but please. I'm fine! I feel good, actually."

"Well… okay," he said, caving in. "I'll be right back!"

He left, and I was sitting there all alone. I looked back to TK and Miku. She still hadn't kissed him. When was she going to kiss him? When that happened, at least I'd have some closure or something. It wouldn't be so suspenseful.

"Hey, it's little Kari!" came a familiar voice. I looked up to see Kyo standing next to me. "Having fun, kid?"

"It's the thrower of the awesome party himself! Hey, Kyo! Davis went to make me another drink, so I'm really lonely. Come on and keep me company until he comes back, okay?"

"Sure," he said, sitting down on the couch next to me. "Wow, Kari. You've really grown up!"

I giggled. He'd just seen me last year! Maybe even during the summer… Probably, but I couldn't remember. How long had Tai been away at soccer camp with him again? "I'm still the same, silly."

"No, you seem older now… I swear you do!" He took a gulp from the beer can in his hand. "How's O.H. treating you?"

It took me a minute to remember that meant Odaiba High. "Oh, it's cool," I said. "Miku's still being her bitchy self, but that wasn't going to change anytime soon." I blinked. Had I really said that? I didn't mean to sound so mean.

He laughed, though. "Yeah, probably not. She's so different from you, Kari. She's really cold, and you're so sweet…"

"People always say I'm so sweet," I told him. "I don't really think they're right."

"They are," he said. "You're so sweet… And you're so nice and pretty too, Kari."

I realized something and giggled. "Are you hitting on me, Kyo?"

He grinned back. "What if I am? Is that so bad?"

Miku's voice was barking in my ear. Or maybe it was just my head? _Don't be a prude like usual! Go ahead and make out with guys if they want to._

"Nope, not at all," I said. I leaned closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. It felt nice to be next to a guy who actually wanted to be near me instead of some other girl. All guys just wanted to get close to me to get close to Miku. Even TK. "You like me better than Miku, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course," he said, wrapping his arm around me. His beer can dangled a few inches in front of my face, and I remember not being able to focus on anything besides that. It was as if the whole party behind it faded away and it was just me and the beer can. And Kyo, of course. I moved my face off his shoulder and towards his face, and then I was looking at him and he was looking at me.

"I wish you'd kiss me," I said. He laughed and nodded, and was just about to when I heard a voice: Davis'.

"What the hell?"

Kyo and I looked up at him. "Dude, what's wrong?" Kyo asked, kind of annoyed that we'd been interrupted. I was, too. Would Kyo still think I was cool?

"What do you _think_ is wrong?" Davis said. He seemed serious and mad. It was weird for him to be like that. He was usually so happy and laid-back. He was never really serious about anything. I didn't like it.

Kyo seemed to realize something. "Dude, sorry, I had no idea," he said, then jumped off the couch. "Seeya guys," he mumbled before hurrying off.

Davis still wasn't saying anything or sitting down next to me _or_ giving me my drink. I smiled up at him. "Thanks for making me another drink, you're so nice… You're sweet, like Kyo said I was." Then I realized Davis was the one who had made Kyo go away. "Hey, Davis! That was kind of mean of you to get rid of him like that. He was about to kiss me, you know."

I realized he was staring at me, a hurt expression on his face. I was confused. "Don't be sad," I said. "We're at a party! It's time to be happy!"

He shook his head. "You don't even understand. Why don't you even understand?"

He was right, I didn't understand. "I'm sorry," I said. "Please don't be mad."

He ran his hand through his hair, looking stressed out. "I'm not mad." He sounded mad.

"Maybe if you'd explain it to me I'd understand," I said. "Come on, sit down with me and explain it, okay? This can be like math class. It takes me awhile to understand things in math so I have to have them explained to me during lunch sometimes. This can be like math tutoring during lunch!"

"It's not worth explaining. Besides, you're a smart girl – you can figure it out." He shook his head, as if realizing something. "Oh god… Look, you're drunk. I have to find Tai so you can go home."

I laughed. I wasn't drunk! "I feel fine," I said. "I'm acting fine. This is how I always act. I'm not drunk, I'm completely sober. I don't want to go home."

"You're not sober. And it's all my fault. Come on, we have to go now," he said, grabbing my hands and pulling me up off the couch. I didn't feel like standing, but I followed after him anyway. My head spun as I suddenly stood up.

"Woah, Davis," I said. "Hold on. My head feels funny…"

"That's because you're drunk," he said, kind of mean sounding.

"Don't be mad… Will you be happy again if I'm not drunk? Cause I'm really not. If you just believed me we could be happy again and we could go back and sit on the couch and you could explain it to me so I would understand. Okay? Let's do that."

He shook his head, leading me away from the couch. "No, Kari. You have to go home now. Here, I'm going to put you with TK and Miku. Stay with them, okay? I'll find Tai. And try not to get myself killed."

-x-

Poor clueless freshmen. Reminds me of my first year in high school… I was kind of a mixture of all the characters in a way: awkward like Cody, an outcast like Yolei, pessimistic like Ken, wanting to be popular like Kari, being oblivious to how life works like Davis, and liking disgusting people like TK. xD

Anyway. Next chapter switches over to Cody's house, hooray!

Please review and I'll love you!


	28. twentysix:cody's world:ken

Hey guys! Sorry about the slow update. The holidays made things a bit difficult. :3 Hopefully you all had a nice end of December (as that's when I updated last), whether or not you celebrate Christmas, and a happy New Year! Yay for 2008! (Erm… I guess?)

Sorry. End of rambling now.

As promised, the fic will now shift over to Cody's little sleepover for a bit. Meaning…one chapter. xD And then back to Kyo's party, and then back to here… Sort of… Ah, don't worry, I've got it all planned out.

We're now at 94 reviews, so I'm expecting that this chapter will be the one to hit 100! (if not… I will cry. xD) The Pyramid of Darkness is at 97 reviews (even though it's about 20 chapters shorter than this fic x-x;) so hopefully that'll hit 100 too. So… I propose a race! xD Which will win? I'm updating them at the same time, hooray! Whoever wins the race will get the next update. What an exciting prize. xD

…I know, I said I'd stop rambling. Sorry. ;

Thank you to the reviewers: **Khajmer, blessed-with-a-curse, ****ll-Persephone-ll****, Depthmon, MadamePika** (two reviews!)**, Paulagirl, flamealchemist15, **and **Oversized Bucket**.

Specific thingers:

**Khajmer:** Glad to be meeting your checklist. xD Though there will still be some surprises among some of the things you listed…

**blessed-with-a-curse:** Wow, that's a good story. 8D Unfortunately my meeting-my-boyfriend story is nowhere near as entertaining… met through friends, blah blah blah. xD I'm glad alcohol has some good results!

**ll-Persephone-ll:** I'm not sure if TK and Kari will be together either. ;D It's all a mystery… But seeing as I'm a huge Takari fan, they'll probably be together at some point in the fic. :3 But who knows if it'll last?

**MadamePika:** Woah, I didn't know that. o-o; Yeah, I'd like to see that website if you have its name handy… That'd be interesting to look at. And thanks, I've tried to make the characters as realistic as I can. Er… I've been guilty of not doing this with Miku, but there _are_ some girls like her. xD

**Paulagirl:** Sorry, I didn't mean TK was disgusting. I meant that when I was a freshman, I liked disgusting people, which is what TK is doing as a freshman (meaning Miku xD).

And here we go!

**:: twenty-six : cody's world : ken ::**

I was rather surprised at Cody's most gracious invitation to sleep over at his house that Friday night.

I'd never stayed at a friend's house overnight before, but I _had_ lived in a dormitory. It wouldn't be that different, right? His parents probably had the same dreadful rules as those enforced by the hall managers at my old school. In your room by nine (except with written permission from a professor to pursue individual study or help with a group project), lights out by ten. Wake up at five-thirty, be ready and out the door by six-thirty.

I doubted there was a mess hall, though. I was quite thankful for that.

I suspected others my age would be worried about meeting their friend's parents, but I was more apprehensive about what exactly Cody and I would _do_. Sure, we had talked every day that week, and I sometimes was startled as the bell for the end of lunch sounded – as my conversations with Cody went unexpectedly quickly, but this was different. Would he want to watch some mindless television program or play those awful video games like most of our peers? Or would we have more discussions about philosophical topics such as existentialism, spirituality, and the true contents of cafeteria food? I secretly hoped the latter, though feared that Cody might only act like that on school grounds.

"Here we are," Cody murmured. We'd gotten to his apartment. I'd somehow thought that he would live in a house. I couldn't explain why, but I imagined him in the kind of old, traditional Japanese-style houses that had their own martial arts practice rooms. Perhaps it was because Cody talked incessantly about his grandfather, who was his kendo teacher. His grandfather seemed like the kind of person who would only exist in such a place as an old, traditional Japanese-style house. Yet here I was, at Cody's apartment, and it seemed just the same size as mine, if not a slight bit smaller.

I removed my shoes as I stepped into Cody's house, glancing around to get some sort of impression. I've noticed that going to other people's houses is kind of like having an intimate look inside their head. You can find out more things from stained carpets and books lying around than you can through interrogation, I believe. I'd read the studies of a famous psychologist who had written essays on this theory, but although I remembered his beliefs I could not for the life of me remember his name. It must have been the effect of brainless teenagers on me.

Not that Cody was a brainless teenager. He was actually neither of those.

"I'm home," he called politely. Soon, a woman appeared from the hallway.

"Hello, Cody!" she exclaimed. "And you must be Ken! Why, I've heard so much about you!" She approached me, wearing a warm smile.

I returned the smile. Unlike most my age, I am not afraid of parents. Sometimes I like them more than their children. "And I fear that I have heard nothing about you," I told Cody's mother. "Cody never mentioned he had an older sister."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled even wider. "I like this boy, Cody!"

Cody seemed embarrassed. "I can show you around if you want," he said. Soon, he was leading me around.

"This is my grandfather's room," Cody told me after we'd left the kitchen-living-dining room area and had stepped into the hallway. I peered inside, hoping I wasn't being too rude or intrusive. I didn't get much of a good look at his room, as Cody moved on to the next. However, I spotted a framed photograph on the wall of a young boy – Cody, I thought. He looked happy, a big grin with missing teeth and large green eyes.

Next, Cody showed me the bathroom, and after that came his mother's room. It was smaller than Cody's grandfather's room – strange, I thought, since it had to fit two people while the other just had to fit one. I saw more pictures in this room: a wedding picture, though it was a candid one, was the biggest, and caught my attention. In it, Cody's mother and a man who looked very much like Cody were smiling, their faces red like they'd been laughing so hard they could barely breath. She wore a white dress, the veil flung over her dark hair carelessly, and he had on a dark suit. I noticed, though, that the suit was stained with pink on one leg…

Cody saw me looking at it and smiled a tiny bit. "The pink part is frosting… Apparently, my father was so nervous during the whole wedding that his hands were still shaking when he cut the cake, and he dropped the first piece on himself. My mother says that was the only thing that lightened him up a bit during the wedding. They have a nicer picture that was during the actual ceremony, but my mother likes this one much better."

I smiled faintly. "My parents don't have a wedding picture… They had just said their vows when my mother's… erm, water broke. Two weeks early. They had to be rushed to hospital. My father said that the whole time my mother was in labor, she was screaming about wanting cake."

Cody's eyes widened and he laughed a bit. "I guess you decided to show up early because you wanted some too, then, huh?"

My smile faded. "It was my brother, actually," I said, now regretting telling the story. "He was… always early to do anything after that." _Like die_. I closed my eyes. Sometimes my brain seemed to love to bring the most disturbing thoughts into my head.

"My room's next," Cody said. His room turned out to be a lot like I'd expected. It was clean and neat, with no clutter anywhere. Everything was in neutral colors like beige, cream, and grey-green. A kendo bag with the stick poking out of it lay in the corner. Unlike the other rooms, Cody didn't have any pictures on the walls. I didn't think there were any pictures at all until I saw a very small one resting on his bedside table. It was Cody's mother and the same man I'd seen in the wedding picture. They were holding a toddler version of Cody.

"My mom put out a futon for you," Cody was saying as he motioned towards the neatly arranged futon on the floor beside his bed. "I hope that's okay…"

I nodded, looking from the photograph back to him. "Perfect," I said. Yet my eyes couldn't stray too far from the picture. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed like it held some sort of mystery behind it. Perhaps it was just because I'd come flying headfirst into a new world, the world of Cody's family. And every family has their mysteries… Their secrets that they don't want to share with the rest of the world, or are at least reluctant to mention. My family sure had those, and I was working the best I could to keep Cody away from them. Yes, he had let me into his world, his head, but I was in no way ready to let him into mine.

-x-

I hoped you liked it. :3 Next chapter is TK's, and we go back to Kyo's party!

Remember, if this hits 100 first it gets the next update. I mean, the updates will probably be pretty close on both stories, but whatever. xD


	29. twentyseven:faulty best friend system:tk

Hi guys. ;3 So that contest thing basically failed because of my own stupidity… Meaning I forgot that it doesn't have the times reviews are posted on there or anything, so… yeah. Anyway, I'm updating this one first merely because I was more eager to write it than the next chapter of The Pyramid of Darkness. I also started a new fic, if you'd like to check it out… It's called The Parent Untrap, and it's a Tamers/Season 3 fic starring Rika and Ryo.

Anyway. Thanks for your reviews: **Savi2070, Khajmer, flamealchemist15, blessed-with-a-curse, Depthmon, Takari817, ihopethisnameisnttaken, The Illustionest, Madame Pika, Paulagirl, **and **candilious**! As usual, you guys are amazing and thanks for all your support.

**Khajmer:** Ah, me too! About the Jogress partner thing I mean… Cody hated Ken in the show so it would have been better for them to be together… And it would have been nice for TK and Davis to overcome their differences (slash love of Kari xD) and work together as partners… Oh well. D:

**blessed-with-a-curse:**I love Phish Food. xD Okay, that was quite unsubstantial but I felt it needed to be said anyway.

**MadamePika:** Hm, it didn't work. D: I wonder if there's something that won't let you post links in reviews…

Anyway, here we go!

**:: twenty-seven : faulty best friend system : tk ::**

I had been sitting next to Miku on the couch and things were going great. We hadn't even been there that long, but it was fun just to talk. We didn't talk about anything important, nothing that mattered at all, but it was fun, anyway. I might have been bored if I didn't like her. But I did! I was relieved, though, to know she wouldn't try anything now like she had yesterday – there were a bunch of people around. It would be weird.

We were talking about school, I think, when I realized Davis and Kari were approaching us. At first I was kind of annoyed that they were interrupting us, but then I saw that Kari wasn't walking very well, and Davis looked mad. He set Kari down on the couch next to Miku.

She looked at Kari, than up at Davis. "What the hell, Davis? Go away!"

"I don't give a shit if you're about to make your latest conquest or whatever. You can spare two seconds to take care of your so-called best friend while I find Tai!" Davis spat.

Latest conquest? Was that me? Okay, Davis was _not_ being fair to Miku here.

"You sound so mad! You both sound too mad. Please don't be mad. I hate it when people are mad at me," Kari said. Davis hurried off, shaking his head.

"Kari, are you okay?" I asked, leaning over. Was she drunk or something? We hadn't been there that long, so unless all she'd been doing was drink beer after beer, she couldn't be too drunk. Of course, there was always the possibility that it wasn't beer she had drunk…

"I'm fine, Davis is just overreacting," Kari said. She laid down on top of us, so her head was resting on my knees.

"Yeah, right. Kari, how the hell did you get so drunk so quickly?" Miku demanded. She didn't sound like a very nice best friend right now… I could understand that she was angry for Kari for getting so drunk, though. After all, it was dangerous and Kari could get really sick from alcohol poisoning or something.

Kari shrugged, then said, "I'm not drunk. I know you don't believe me because the floor is kinda spinny, but that's because I had to get up suddenly when Davis made me get up. Like a head rush or something. And I was just feeling kinda tired so I had to lay down."

"We should take her home," I said, worried. She must have had harder stuff than beer, though that was all I saw in this room. Actually, this was the only room I'd been in so far. I thought Miku would agree with me, as Kari's best friend. But she didn't.

"Can't Tai do it? He's her brother. I'm not. I want to stay at the party," Miku whined. "It's the first one of the year, and I don't want it to be ruined and have to go home right away because of some dumb little incident. She doesn't even need to go home. This kind of thing happens all the time at Kyo's parties. Don't you know what the upperclassmen will think of us if we leave just because of this?"

"Oh no… They're gonna think I'm some dumb little baby, huh?" Kari asked. She looked extremely worried about this, and for some reason it made me feel so sad and sorry for her. It was like she was trying so hard to be liked or approved that she didn't even care about her own well-being.

And then Miku – I couldn't believe her! It was like she didn't care about her best friend at all. Was the best friend system really failing right now? I didn't think it _could_ fail. "Miku, Kari's really drunk. We have to try and take care of her," I told her, trying not to sound like I was forcing her into it. I wanted her to like me, but I also wanted Kari to be okay.

…okay, maybe I understood Kari's worry that she wouldn't be liked. But still.

"Leave it to Kari to get completely drunk and ruin the party for us. Thanks, Kari." Miku crossed her arms and glared down at my knees – or Kari.

"Please don't be mad," Kari murmured again.

"Why the hell not?" Miku snapped.

"Hey, come on," I said. Why was she being so harsh? "She's sick. I know you don't want to leave… I don't either. But we need to help her."

"Fine," spat Miku. "I'll go find Kaoru. I don't know why _she_ wasn't watching out for Kari." Miku reluctantly went to go got Kaoru, who restored my faith in the best friend system. She was so worried it looked like she was going to cry.

"I want to take her home, but I can't," Kaoru said. Tears collected in her eyes. "I have to go with Miku back to her house to spend the night. My parents will freak if they find out I slept over at Kari's instead of Miku's."

"Don't worry, sweetie!" Kari said. "I'm fine! Don't cry! I don't know why everyone's getting so upset over this!" She giggled. "We're at a party, it's supposed to be fun!"

"Well, who does that leave, then?" I asked. "Me and Davis? Is Davis even willing to take care of her?" I was disappointed that neither of Kari's best friends would take care of her.

Davis came back a few minutes later, and he was even madder than he'd been when he left. "Nobody knows where Tai is," Davis said. "Someone said they saw him go upstairs, but I checked and he's not there."

"See?" Kari said. "Tai _always_ watches out for me. If he's not around, then that must mean I don't need to be worried about."

This was the second thing Kari said that made me feel terribly sad. Matt had told me how protective Tai was of Kari, but he wasn't around either. Her own_brother_. It was like she had nobody. "We can just take Kari back until Tai gets there," I said. "They can't, but you'll go with me, right Davis?"

He hesitated, then shook his head. "I'm not going to bother. No matter how many nice things I do for her, she never understands." Understand what? Did he like her? He must – that would explain a lot of things.

I looked at Kari. She did look like she couldn't comprehend what Davis was saying. "It's not about winning points or something," I snapped. "It's about helping one of your friends. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Nothing I do means anything to _her_." Davis looked mad, but also sad too. I wondered why he'd suddenly gotten so upset. He'd been fine when we got to the party. Insanely happy, even.

"Fine, I'll take her back," I said. "Matt will probably freak when I tell him I'm going to spend the night with Kari, but whatever."

Matt stomped over to us as if on cue. He looked angry as well. "TK, let's go," he said.

"What? No, I can't. I have to take care of Kari. She's drunk."

Matt laughed, but he did _not_ look or sound happy. "Of course Tai can't take care of his own sister. He's too busy to tell her not to drink or even take her home."

"What are you talking about?" I was confused. Tai was his best friend. "Anyway, I have to take Kari back and stay there until Tai shows up. Unless you know where he is?"

"No, TK, I don't," Matt said, his voice icy. "But we're going back to our apartment. Come on."

"Wait! Matt, this isn't fair! I have to take care of her or else nobody will," I pleaded with him as he tried to pull me out. With the faulty best friend system in place, I was the only one who could take care of her!

"Do you want me to call Mom and tell her you went to spend the night with a drunk girl alone in her house?" Matt threatened. "It looks like there are three people there already who will take care of her. I don't want to argue, TK. This has been a crap day for me. Let's just go."

Matt _always_ relied on our overprotective mother. I knew he was going to get his way. He always did. "Hold on," I sighed, then went back to the group. "Somebody else has to take her home," I told them, trying not to feel too angry with Matt. "I can't."

"Neither can we, remember?" Miku said.

No, you just don't_want_ to, I wanted to say. Some best friend you are! But I wasn't being fair to her. She lived near Kyo anyway. "Fine. Can you, Davis?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Whatever. If nobody else can, then I guess I'm going to have to, right?"

I nodded. "Basically. Okay, thanks, Davis!" I tried to sound enthusiastic, and I was kind of glad that I didn't have to take care of Kari. "Remember, you only have to stay there until Tai comes home! Bye, guys!" I ran after an impatient Matt.

-x-

Huh, I wonder why Matt got so weird at the end… Mysterious! Now Davis is going to take Kari home… Hmm… Davis plus drunk Kari plus empty house… Do you trust him? xD

Next chapter is called "vocabulate" and features Yolei. ;3 Please review!


	30. twentyeight:vocabulate!:yolei

How's everyone doing? I've been sick, so I haven't been able to get on the computer much… Meaning I've been at home but when I'm sick all my parents let me do is like drink soup and read… Which actually sounds really nice now that I'm back at school. xD

Okay, so! Thank you to my lovely reviewers: **ihopethisnameisnttaken, Khajmer, Paulagirl, Depthmon, MadamePika, flamealchemist15, Oversized Bucket,** and**blessed-with-a-curse**.

Specifics?:  
**ihopethisnameisnttaken:** Ah, thanks for letting me know… I had no idea. xD I'm glad you like this one better. ;3 I usually like writing it better, because the chapters are so short and I get to focus on a specific person for each one. I really should update quicker because of their length… Sigh…

**MadamePika:** Ooh thanks, it worked this time… That is a really fascinating, educational site… I spent so much time reading all the episode comparisons. xD Now I want to go back and change all the names in my fics to the Japanese versions… Uh, I guess I can do that with any new ones I write. xD Thanks for showing it to me!

Hooray! Let the chapter begin! ;D

**:: twenty-eight : vocabulate: yolei ::**

"Yolei, honey, wake up," came an insistent voice.

It was my mom. Scared, I sat up as quickly as I could, grabbing my glasses from the table and jamming them over my eyes. "What? What is it, Mom?" I asked. Oh god oh god oh god… What had happened? This was the kind of thing I dreaded happening to me. It happened all the time in movies and it only meant something terrible. Was my family okay? What was going on?

"Your father's tired. We need you to take this shift," she said.

I glanced at the clock, mouth hanging open. "Mom. It's two in the morning. This is not okay!" First she made me think everyone else was dead, and now she was making me work at two a.m.?

"Deal with it," my mom said. Ugh, she was horrible! "Get dressed and get down there. I want to get to sleep as soon as possible."

"I'd like to sleep too! I'm your teenage daughter!" I protested.

"Then you'll love being up late. Go."

"Mom!" I groaned. She was insane! "Don't you know the kinds of people who come to convenience stores at two in the morning? They're all dirty old men! Don't you care about me at all?"

"Yolei. Please. You will not get raped." She left.

Why was it so impossible for me to get raped? My mother was absolutely crazy. All my happy feelings and my love for people I previously hated in the world left. I growled, deciding I was not going to get dressed.

That sounds like I was going to work naked. I wasn't, I was just wearing my pajamas. Which, tonight, consisted only of a large T-shirt that had a picture of Johnny Depp's beautiful face on it. Okay, so it was from _Edward Scissorhands_, but whatever. He was still majorly cute.

I got down to the store and had no idea why I hadn't changed. I had been the one talking about dirty old men raping me, and now I was wearing a _shirt_? I hadn't even put on shoes or slippers! Oh, I am intelligent.

The only saving grace was that my legs were recently shaved. If they weren't, I would have died seeing as the next person who came in was Ken.

Okay, so technically it was Cody. But Ken was right after him, and it was Ken I noticed. I tried not to stare at him, but it was kind of hard. I forced myself to smile when all I wanted to do was gawk at him and his beauty.

I realized he was wearing his pajamas too. They were fancy, and might have been silk. The top and bottom matched and there was a pocket on the shirt with "KI" embroidered in English. Below, it said the name of his old boarding school in English as well. His hair was a little mussed up, like he'd been sleeping. Only not sleeping, just lying down a bit. You know?

Oh, and then there was Cody, too. He wore pajama pants and a white shirt. But whatever. Back to Ken. The name of my family's store must have been recently changed to 'Hot Guy Headquarters' considering some of the recent customers.

"Hi!" I exclaimed, willing my vocabulary to… work. Or something. I think vocabulate was the word.

Cody smiled a bit shyly, and Ken said, "Yolei, hello." They looked surprised to see me as they approached the cash register. Ken remembered my name!

"You're working quite late," Ken observed.

_Come on, vocab, vocabulate!_ Ugh, this was going to be hard. I'd just woken up. Oh god, speaking of just waking up! My breath probably smelled like morning breath, or 2 a.m. breath, or whatever it was! And my hair was acting as crazy as my mom was! Ughhh…. I was so stupid! _Okay, okay, just impress him with your word choice._ "Yes, my mother forced me to work." Those weren't big words! I wasn't vocabulating! I hated myself.

"This late?" Cody asked, though when I glanced at him, reluctant to take my eyes off Ken, he looked down a little nervously.

"Yeah. She must… not like me or something." _NO!_ I was officially the stupidest person ever. Where was my vocabulary? It was like it had been eaten by Edward Scissorhands. Wait, that didn't even make sense! I had no vocabulation and I didn't even make sense! The relationship between Ken and I was doomed. I decided to try again._Please be intelligent… _"What are you guys doing out so…"_Dammit._ Just one more chance! Vocabulate, please! "…late?"

Probably much to their surprise, I hit my head on the wall. They looked at me strangely. Okay, so now I was stupid _and_ insane. I smiled at them, and they seemed even more surprised. _Don't make them think you're going to eat them or boil them in a stew or something! Just be_normal_, Yolei, for once in your life!_

"I'm sleeping at Cody's tonight," Ken explained. "Neither of us could manage sleeping, and we both wanted food."

"Well, you came to the right place!" I exclaimed. "We have… food."

Ken hesitated, then said, "Yes." His voice was dry, like he thought I was making fun or him or something. I wasn't! Ugh. "We'll look over there, thank you." He and Cody headed over to the ice cream section.

This was going horribly. _Okay, vocabulary, I don't like you and you don't like me. But we need to work together to achieve a greater goal: Ken! This isn't something that means nothing, like an essay or test or something. This is the hottest boy in the world, and you will help me impress him or there'll be hell to pay! Vocabulate… NOW!_

I hoped I'd scared my vocabulary into vocabulation, because Ken and Cody were coming back with separate ice cream bars.

"Splendid," I said with a smile. "These are some of the finest products we have – to my knowledge, in any case. The chocolate is superb and the overall result is simply… delectable." _Thank you, thank you, thank you!_

"Oh?" Ken asked. "That sounds excellent. However, we haven't got much money. Perhaps we should get a cheaper kind, then?"

I'd actually kind of lied. Those were pretty cheap ice cream bars, in price and in quality. "No, no," I said. "Here, I'll give you a discount!" I said brilliantly. "I always award discounts to my friends." Was that bribery? Oh well. Now we were officially friends, unless Ken wanted to pay a higher price. Not that I actually was discounting them. I was really just charging them the actual price for the bars. Oh, I was so confused.

To my immense (go vocabulary!) relief, Ken smiled. "How generous," he said.

I rang them up. "Ah, well, my studies of Confucius have made me a better person," I said. _Um… Confucius? _I only knew one Confucian thing, I thought: the golden rule.

"How fascinating," Ken said, eyes widening. "In what ways have Confucian teachings improved you?"

_Oh crap. Make something up! Just vocabulate a lot and it'll sound good!_ "Well, I don't want to bore you with all my… um, post-epiphanic actions. However, the major metamorphosis I have experienced is that I now attempt to treat my fellow humans – oh, and, um, animals and… the… the like, too – in the exact same way that I would enjoy being treated. I think obeying that simple rule is quite… beneficial, to the world. And its entire population."

Ken was nodding along with me, and Cody also looked interested.

"I agree entirely." Ken hesitated. "Forgive me if I am prying, but I can't imagine such an intelligent, well-read student as yourself being held back a year," Ken said. "May I ask why you weren't advanced? Especially with your extensive vocabulary?"

_YES!_

"The school doesn't seem to believe I work at this store incessantly," I told him, looking down like I was sad. "It certainly interferes with my studies, but they don't care in the least bit."

"How awful," Ken said.

"Yes," I agreed. "They don't seem to be concerned with the fact that I'm able to vocabulate. It's quite upsetting."

There was a pause.

"Er, 'vocabulate' isn't a word," Ken said.

…oh damn.

-x-

Poor Yolei. xD Hope you liked her chapter! Next is 'not a crush', featuring everyone's favorite little kendo… stick… wielder. o-o

Anyone know what you call someone who does kendo? I don't think it's kendo player, since you don't… _play_ kendo, but… Ah, I don't know. xD; Please review!


	31. twentynine:not a crush:cody

Hi everyone! Sorry it took such a long time to update, but all my files concerning this fic got stuck on my old computer, which broke. Anyway, I was able to transfer everything over to my new computer so it's all good now. xD

Sooo I guess you're probably all wondering what happens about the whole Kyo party thing? Well, here's something that will enlighten you! Or not. Haha sorry. It's Cody's turn.

I'm really sorry that I can't thank the reviewers right now, but I share Word with other people in my house and it gets mad if two of us are on it at the same time and the internet is open. So I have to save this, quit word, and then turn the connection back on or else it'll kick me off Word and delete this. RRGH. Don't worry, I'll figure out something soon… I hope. Until then, THANK YOU REVIEWERS!

**: twenty-nine : not a crush : cody :**

Ken had just told Yolei that 'vocabulate' wasn't a word.

Yolei froze, then grinned. "Oh… I know that!" she said, laughing it off quickly. "It was a joke… Get it? You said I had such a good vocabulary, and then I said something that's not a real word!… okay, I guess it sucks if I have to explain it."

I laughed a little bit to be nice. Yolei smiled down at me. She had a pretty smile.

I had to admit, Yolei seemed a little weird at first. Or maybe she just seemed a little scary. But today she'd been acting nice, and I had really liked what she said earlier – about Confucius and everything. Grandfather had me study Confucius, and I liked the thought that Yolei did too. And when she'd said that she treated everything – not just people – with the same kind of respect she wanted to be treated with, I couldn't help but realize that she was so _right_. I mean, usually people just want to treat humans well because they think animals and plants don't matter. But I thought Yolei was really cool for mentioning that.

And when she gave us a discount on ice cream, I definitely knew that I liked her. A lot.

Wait, no, I don't mean like I had a crush on her. I just meant that I liked her and wanted to be her friend. Even though I hadn't said much to her, she talked a lot, and I liked that. It was kind of relieving, like I wouldn't have to say much if I was around her. I didn't think people like Davis and Yolei could be in a relationship because they both talked a lot. But people like Yolei and I could – I mean, a friendship. Not a relationship-relationship. Just friends.

Ken looked at Yolei. "If you don't mind, maybe we'll stay a bit longer? Merely to keep you company; I'm afraid we're all out of money."

Yolei smiled. "Of course! Um… many thanks for the offer!"

Then Ken seemed to remember me and looked down. "If that's acceptable," he said.

I nodded. I didn't want to go back either. _Grandfather or Mom might wake up and see you're gone. Do you really not care?_ I thought about this. I felt like I should go back, but I simply didn't want to. I was happy just standing here, listening to the conversation and sometimes contributing. Though my ice cream would have gone very nicely with it… I opened the wrapper and began eating the ice cream bar. Ken realized he was still just holding onto his and opened it as well.

"Great! There aren't generally many customers at this time of night," Yolei said. "Sometimes there are creepy old men. I don't quite understand my mother in forcing me to work here at this… er, immoral hour."

"My grandfather often comes here late at night," I said all of a sudden. I didn't know why. Maybe I just wanted to join in a bit. They both looked at me. "Not that he's a creepy old man… or anything…" _Oh, great. You are so stupid._

Ken shook his head and looked back at Yolei. "Don't worry, he's certainly not. Cody's grandfather is…" He seemed to be searching for a word. "Cool."

When Ken said a word like that, it seemed wrong. And was I the only one who found it a little ironic that he had to think about using the word 'cool' but threw out things like 'ostentatious' and 'saturnine' every second?

"I think I know who that is," Yolei said, then glanced at Ken, almost like she was worried about what she was saying. "He comes in… regularly, to purchase prune juice… Correct?" I nodded. "Yes… He always converses with me about kendo and his grandson, who plays kendo… I remembered that was what you specialize in."

She actually remembered something about me? How nice… I didn't expect anyone to even remember my name, least of all Yolei. She was turning out to be full of surprises…

"So you didn't attend that dreadful-sounding party either?" Ken asked Yolei. "Or did you just recently return?"

Yolei laughed. "Kyo's party? No way. I… um, don't much enjoy those activities. I was invited by one of my various acquaintances, but I refused. Or rather, rejected him…" She was talking faster and faster now. "He asked me to go with him, as his date, but I couldn't accept it." She glanced at Ken. "Have you ever found yourself in that sort of situation? Where a girl has asked you to accompany her and you must refuse because it would not be honest?"

Ken shook his head. "Girls have never expressed much of an interest in me, I must admit," he said.

"Hah!" Yolei snickered. Ken looked at her strangely. "Um, my apologies," she said. "I was… remembering a joke that my gentleman caller related to me. I'm sorry that girls have seemed uninterested. I'm certain they truly weren't."

Ken shrugged. "I suppose it served me right. I never expressed much of an interest in them, either."

Yolei's face fell for a moment. I wondered why she looked so startled all of a sudden – almost disappointed. She opened her mouth to talk slowly. "Um… then… did you express one in boys?" she asked.

Ken blinked. "No," he said. He was such an un-awkward person! "No, I have no interest in males, and only a slight interest in females. You see… there are so many other things that are more important than girls in my life."

My face flushed red. I wondered what Yolei must have thought about Ken and I having a sleepover, and then realized I didn't want to know.

Yolei stared at Ken for a moment, then smiled tightly. "That's certainly just your own opinion. Are you the chauvinist type, then?" I noticed her hands had rolled up into fists. Uh oh.

He blinked twice this time. "Um… no. I merely meant that I don't talk about girls all the time and think about girls all the time. I heard Davis and some of his friends, and that's about all that's on their minds. The most degrading things too – Davis not as much, but his older friends."

Yolei shrugged. "It's… uh, common knowledge that Davis and his friends are all champion porn watchers, but what else do they converse about?"

Ken shook his head. "No, that's all I heard too. But… I think that's vulgar enough."

I felt my face redden. They were actually talking about _pornography_? Without having to giggle nervously or feel embarrassed? High school was a whole different world. Or maybe I was just far behind… Yolei acted like everyone watched it and it was no big deal. Did that mean I should be watching it or something? Was I not normal for not watching it?

Yolei just smirked at him. "Are you really going to tell me that you've never watched porn before? You're a _guy_."

Ken nodded sincerely. "I've never seen it. I think the idea is disgusting."

Okay, maybe that didn't make me so weird for not watching it. I was relieved.

Yolei grinned. "Well, yes, of course… I should have expected that. You are of a higher… erm, standard than the other high school boys." She glanced at me. "Oh! I'm sure you are too, Cody… I just can't exactly be sure since you are very… gregarious." She hesitated, as if wondering if that was the right word or not.

Ken laughed. "Quite!" he said, apparently confusing Yolei. I was kind of blown away by both of their vocabularies. I'd always thought I had a bigger vocabulary than most of the people in my class, but I guess I couldn't even compare to Ken and Yolei.

I wished I talked more like Ken. I wished Yolei would look at me, with her eyes bright like that, and smile like she did at Ken. If only I could string a few words together, maybe she would act like that with me.

But I couldn't. Right now, anyway. I couldn't think of anything to say. It was a conversation between them. I might as well have been one of the ice cream bars or the shelf or something for how little I was contributing to the conversation.

I wanted to. Maybe in the future I would be able to actually talk, and Yolei would smile at me and enjoy my company like she was enjoying Ken's right now.

I mean, I didn't like her as anything more than a friend. But her eyes almost seemed like they sparkled in the convenience store lighting, and she smiled so big that you could see her pink gums, just a tiny bit, at the top.

She was beautiful.

Not like I had a crush on her or anything.

Of course not.

-x-

Oh my! Cody has not a crush, huh? Okay, well, next chapter belongs to Davis and it's called "caring for kari". Hopefully you'll all remember where we left off, right?

Thank you for reading, I'm sorry about the late update, and please review! 8D


	32. thirty:caring for kari:davis

Hey there everyone. 8D Ready for the next installment of Fast Times? OKAY GOOD. xD

Thank you to the reviewers of last chapter: **The Illusionest, sunflowers, Depthmon, Chaos Blademaster, **and **BadScrewdriver**.

**sunflowers:** Internet brownies, huh? :o Hmm… Look forward to the party recap on Monday of the story (evil grin).  
**Chaos Blademaster:** Thanks for reviewing! No, I don't mind if you read but still review, but it's always nice to get feedback. And you can get your questions answered, like I'm about to do! :o Okay, so the whole "NOT A CRUSH OKAY?!" thing with Cody was basically him trying to convince himself. He's never had a real crush before, and doesn't really know if this is either. But he mostly doesn't want to, so he tells himself he doesn't… Oh little Cody. xD As for your other two questions, I can't answer… But hopefully the story will answer them soon enough!  
**BadScrewdriver:** Ah, true. Davis can hold his own, while TK's like never drunk before in his life. xD Not even at Kyo's party. But Mikuu basically makes him drunk, so. Yeah. xD

Here we go! 8D

**: thirty : caring for kari : davis :**

I gave one last glare at Miku and Kaoru, who were staying at the party, and left. I was pulling Kari after me. I hadn't wanted to take her, especially after she had almost kissed Kyo and didn't think it would hurt me at all, but there was nobody else who could. Like TK said, it wasn't a matter of getting brownie points from Kari. I'd realized that he was right and I could help her anyway.

Besides, maybe this time she'd care.

"Kari, hurry up," I said. I didn't want her to be out at this time of night in any neighborhood, even if Kyo's was the nicest one in town.

"It's difficult," she said. Suddenly – "Davis, do you think I'm pretty?"

Where the hell had that come from? "I told you tonight that you're beautiful, didn't I? You just didn't give a shit." Okay, okay, be nicer to her. She didn't _know_ you liked her, and it's not her fault that she kept misunderstanding. Besides, you were the one who got her drunk. Drunk people always do dumb things, like get really close to kissing Kyo while on a date with someone else. But remember, she didn't think of it as a date… She doesn't think she's done anything wrong.

"I gave a shit!" she protested. "I was just watching TK and Miku. I really did give a shit, Davis."

I couldn't help but smile a tiny bit at her use of the expression.

"Do you really think I'm pretty, Davis? Nobody's ever thought I was pretty before. Everyone just thinks of me as Miku's ugly friend. They just don't see me behind her."

I suddenly felt bad for her. I mean, I didn't have the same problem because I was possibly the hottest one out of all my friends, but what would it be like being friends with _Miku_? It would suck for both Kari and Kaoru.

As if reading my mind, Kari said, "And Kaoru is the cute one. Guys like her sometimes too, if they're not all scum and only caring about Miku's body. But guys never like me."

"That's not true," I told her. If only I could tell her. Should I?

"Can we take a break? My head hurts."

"No, we need to get back. Here, I'll carry you," I said. I stopped and put my back to her, lowering my knees a little.

"I love piggyback rides!" she exclaimed as she jumped up onto my back. "Tai used to give me them all the time. But he would run too fast and it would be really scary. You won't run too fast, will you?"

"I won't," I told her. She was heavier than she looked, but that was only because she looked tiny.

The walk was all downhill starting now. It was hard to do, especially while giving someone a piggyback ride, but I just went slower. I had to get her back soon, especially since we were entering the downtown area.

"Time to get off!" she said, sliding off me and giggling. "Look, isn't the moon pretty? Can we walk on the beach, Davis?"

I wasn't sure if I should say yes. It wasn't too out of the way, but it would take a longer time to get back.

She grabbed my hand and I looked at her. She was smiling at me. "Please? Pretty please?" she asked.

I nodded. How could I say no to her? She cheered and led me onto the beach. We walked, hand in hand. Okay, now I was confused. Did she know I liked her or not? And, um, why were we holding hands? Don't get me wrong – I wasn't complaining at _all_, but I was just confused.

"I used to be scared of the ocean," she told me. "I kind of still am, actually."

"How come?"

She shrugged. "I used to have nightmares about it, and I would always be scared that a shark or something would get me when I was swimming." She sighed, looking out at the water. "I used to love swimming before I got too scared to go in the ocean. It makes me sad that I'm too afraid to have fun." She looked to me, eyes sparkling. "Can we have fun, Davis?"

"What do you mean?" I was even more confused.

"If you're with me, I won't be scared, okay? Let's go swimming!" She pulled me towards the water, but I tried pulling her back.

"Kari, not now! You could drown or something from being this drunk. And I'm not exactly as sober as the Pope now either."

She giggled. "The Pope? Where'd you pull his name out of?"

I shrugged. "Just goes to show I'm a little drunk myself."

"Let's just get our feet wet," Kari said. She bent over and took off her shoes, holding them in the hand that wasn't grabbing tightly to mine. I did the same, shoving my socks inside my shoes and rolling my pants up. We walked through the water as the small waves moved against our feet.

"See, I'm not scared cause you're here," she said. "I'm not pretty like Miku, but you're still here with_ me _and not _her_, aren't you?"

"Kari, you're much prettier than Miku is or ever will be," I told her. She just smiled up at me, and her dark eyes were bright.

**-x-**

There… I know, it's really really short. D: I'm sorry… Hopefully I'll update soon though so yeah.

Please review!


	33. thirtyone:k for?:kari

**:: thirty-one : k for…? : kari ::**

Davis was so sweet to walk me back to my house, especially by walking on the beach. He could help me get over my fear of the ocean. I was glad he hadn't decided to stay with Miku and instead had come with me. I knew he liked Miku better, because everyone did, but I appreciated him coming with me.

The water was so cold and refreshing on my ankles that it woke me up a little bit. Not that much, though, because I still felt like crap. What would keep my mind off how much my head and stomach hurt?

"Let's play a game," I said, trying to focus on the cold water instead of pain. "Can we play the alphabet game?"

"Sure," he said. "What's that like?"

"It's pretty easy, but… I don't wanna play a hard game right now. I don't think I could get a Twenty Questions one in a million questions."

"How do we play?"

"I start with A and I say something that starts with A. It used to help me and Tai learn our alphabet when we were learning English," I said, suddenly embarrassed that the game was so simple. "We can play a different one, though."

"No, it's fine," Davis said. "Do you want to start?"

It was so nice feeling the coldness on my legs from the ocean, and the warmth of Davis' hand in mine. The rest of my body felt kind of numb, so it was nice to feel those two feelings, especially since they were so different.

"Let's make it all based on tonight," I said. "That's the theme. Like S for screwdrivers, which are very good…"

"Okay," Davis said. "You have A?"

"A for… a fun party!"

Davis laughed. "That must be cheating!" he said. "That doesn't really start with A…"

"It's not cheating!" I insisted. "It's my game, I can't cheat at it anyway." I was just glad that he wasn't mad like he had been before.

"Fine," he said. "B for beer, which you didn't like."

I shook my head. "Nope, it was gross. C for the sea, which we're walking through!" I knew I was cheating now, but I wanted to see if I could get away with it. Davis snorted and kept going and I cheered.

"D for… Davis? Can I say myself?"

"Yeah!" I said. "D for Davis, who is really cute. Especially in the moonlight. Oops, but it was your turn, so you have to say it."

He laughed. "Right. D for Davis, who is really cute, especially in the moonlight," he said with a funny voice that made me laugh.

"E for exciting, which is what Kyo's party was."

"F for fucking, which is going on at Kyo's party right now," Davis said with a childish grin.

I hit him lightly. "Couldn't you have just used fun?" I asked, but I laughed. "Okay, my turn… G for… great party!"

"Dude, almost all your answers have been about how great the party was. I'm glad you had fun, even though we had to leave early."

I nodded, but it kinda made my head feel even worse. "Next time we go maybe I won't drink as much. Not that I'm drunk now. There will be a next time, right?"

Davis hesitated, then said, "Yeah, maybe. Okay, H? H for – "

"Don't say hot girl, and Miku is one!" I warned. "I know you're going to, but I really don't feel like thinking about how everyone is in love with her right now."

"I was going to say H for hints, which I suck at."

"Hints? What do you mean?"

He shook his head. "Never mind. Your turn."

I didn't understand what he was talking about. It was like my head was in a fog. "I for I feel sick," I said, squeezing his hand. My stomach was turning and my head spinning even more.

"Uh oh. You do?" Davis and I stopped walking and he faced me. "Like… uh, puke sick?" he asked.

"I think so," I said, my voice only coming out in a whisper.

"Here, let's go over and sit on the stairs," he said, leading me over to the stairs that led from the street down to the beach. We sat down. I felt terrible, like I was dying. Why did this happen all of a sudden? I put my head in my hands.

"Just let me know if you're about to, or something," he said. "So I can jump away, you know?"

I nodded, which just made me feel more sick. "Uh oh," I said, grabbing my stomach. I leaned over, ready to throw up, but as quickly as the nauseous feeling had come on, it went away. I sighed with relief. "False alarm," I said.

"You sure?" he asked, and I nodded. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up again. "Let's get you back home."

We went back to walk in the water again. "It's your turn," I said.

"What was I on? Not like drugs but letter?"

"You're on J," I said. "Remember? I feel sick? I don't now, but that was my last one." I laughed, finding that almost amazingly funny.

"J for… jazz, which wasn't played at the party." He shrugged.

"That's a bad one! You could do that for every letter!" I complained.

"Not as bad as C for the sea," he said, smirking at me. I couldn't help but laugh.

"I have K," I said.

"I know one!" Davis exclaimed, excitedly. He looked and sounded like a little kid when he got this way, and it was really cute. Why hadn't I noticed how cute he always was? His messy hair and the way his eyes were always gleaming when he thought he was saying or was going to hear something funny, those were cute. And his lopsided smile was cute. And the way he talked, always rushing, like it was a race to get his words out, that was cute too.

"What?" I asked. I couldn't think of any, mostly because my head was foggy and where it was working, was thinking about how cute Davis was. I could always do K for cute, but I didn't want to cheat again.

He looked down at me for a few seconds, suspense building. "Kari!" he finally cried, his eyes lighting up when he said it and a wide smile stretching across his face.

Oh, yeah… I'd forgotten about my name. But it wasn't really my name, was it, when he said it? It sounded too cute to be my name. He was cute, and the way he said my name was cute, too.

"I have a better one," I said.

"Yeah?" he asked. "What is it?" He looked a little disappointed that I had found a better one than the one he'd been so excited about.

"K for – "

I didn't pass out, but that was the last thing I could remember of the night of Kyo's party. Okay, maybe I was just a _tiny_ bit drunk after all…


	34. thirtytwo:early in the morning:ken

Oh my goodness! I updated! 8D –throws out party hats to everyone- yaaay!

Thank you to the reviewers of last chapter: **Chaos Blademaster, Depthmon,** and **flamealchemist15**!

Sorry for the long wait. And I know this plotline is probably not the one people are most eager to see (darn the intriguing Kari-TK-Davis saga!) but Ken comes next, so, here he is in all his glory. It's short. Sorry. Maybe it's not that short for a _Fast Times_ chapter, I just haven't written them in so long! xD

Because I've been gone for such a long time, I promise to update the next chapter (TK's) either later today or tomorrow. Probably sooner if I get reviews. xD; Lame.

YAY story time!

**:: thirty-two : early in the morning : ken ::**

I had to wake up early in the morning because of a conference in Tokyo I was attending on alternative energy sources – I was representing wind power.

But I felt so groggy at six in the morning, possibly because Cody and I hadn't gotten to sleep until around four, when we finally got back from our jaunt to the convenience store down the block. It had been most interesting, and I was glad we had gone. I'd enjoyed talking to Yolei and hoped that we could converse sometime in the future. Perhaps she wouldn't want to talk at school, seeing as I was a freshman, but then again she'd seemed rather pleasant yesterday during school hours. I imagined what it would be like to have her as an addition to the table where Cody and I sat, and realized I liked the idea. I wanted Yolei to be my friend.

That was why I hadn't forced myself to go back to Cody's apartment to get some sleep for the energy conference – hah, perhaps I could educate the audience on the energy provided by simple sleep. I was certainly lacking energy. Would it emphasize my point if I attached some sort of windmill to my head?

The conference wasn't until ten, though. I just had to be up by six and out of Cody's house by seven. My parents were coming by to pick me up and take me there – in a car, no less. I'd complained that the energy usage of our huge SUV was "gastronomical" – again, a pun that they didn't comprehend. They couldn't seem to understand what I was saying about energy, either. My father simply said, "Don't worry, I'll just plant a tree!"

Honestly, people these days. I could hardly imagine anyone being so uneducated, especially as a fully schooled adult! But that was the way of the world these days, I imagined. Hopefully not for the Cambridge graduate, as that was what I aspired to be. My parents both went to public colleges in Japan.

I would never be seen going to a public Japanese college. I would sooner die a terrible death than enroll in one of their limp-brained classes that lectured on the English language as though not everyone was fluent!

Oh, right… I was in Japan now. Not everyone was fluent.

Yet I was speaking before a group of English-speakers today, too. And since the conference heard I had studied in Great Britain for a number of years, they had assigned me the role of translator while I wasn't speaking. And while I was speaking, I had to give the same talk twice – first in Japanese, second in English.

I decided to practice terms during breakfast: a lovely spread of traditional Japanese food prepared by the talented Cody's mother. I had no idea what to call her beyond that… What was one supposed to call one's friend's mother?

She placed a large plate down before me, and I smiled. "Thank you. **Thank you for the food**," I said afterwards in English.

She gaped at me. "Cody! You never told me Ken spoke English!"

Cody looked down at his food. "I told you he studied in England… I thought it was assumed."

Cody's grandfather looked over. "English, hmm? I used to be the finest English speaker in all my class. **At school high. During college me forgot a little**," he said slowly.

I nodded. Most people who tried to speak to me in English had grammar issues, but I didn't mind. I was sure that both my English and Japanese contained _some_ grammatical errors. Well, okay, maybe not. "**Very good,**" I said. "**I wish I could say I was the best English speaker at my old school, but I was probably one of the worst. Seeing as the others were… well, fluent.**"

They all stared at me.

"I heard 'English'," Cody said.

"I heard 'I'," his mother remarked.

"I heard… my kendo stick calling!" Cody's grandfather exclaimed suddenly, seemingly embarrassed that he didn't understand anything I'd said. "Goodbye!"

I felt a bit guilty. Perhaps I shouldn't have talked so fast. I could have used simpler language, too.

But Cody's mother didn't seem to feel the same way. "Tell us some more in English!" she cried. "I love the sound of the English language!"

I didn't know what I should talk about, so I picked the first thing that came into my head. "**Last night, or possibly early this morning, we went to the convenience store down the block.**" I didn't want to use names, so I went on without them. "**There was an intelligent girl there. She was held back in school for no apparent reason, but I am glad that she was… Or else she would not have been in our class. She would be a sophomore. I enjoyed talking with her.**"

They stared at me, and for some reason I was glad that they didn't understand what I was saying.

The doorbell suddenly rang, and I wasn't finished eating yet. Cody's mother went to answer it and I tried my best to eat as much as I could without being impolite.

"Ken! Your mother's here," came Cody's mother's voice. I carried my plate to the sink and then hurried to Cody's room, where I collected my things and headed back to the front door.

"Oh, Ken," my mother said when she saw me. "Did you have fun? I'm sorry you can't stay longer, but we're running a bit late. Your father is rather upset – he's waiting down in the car."

I nodded. "Okay," I responded. Did she have to talk so much in front of others?

"Ken's father is always worried we're late," my mom said to Cody's mother with a bit of a conspiring smile. "Men, right?"

Cody's mother's face froze for a moment, and then she nodded with a laugh. "Right!"

There was a honking sound from the street below, and my mother sighed. "That must be him," she said. "Ready to go, Ken?"

I nodded, turning to Cody's mother and bowing slightly. "Thank you very much for having me," I said. "And the meal was delicious." I turned to Cody and smiled. "And thank you for inviting me, Cody. I'll see you on Monday."

"Goodbye Ken!" Cody's mother called. "Come back anytime you want!" Cody just waved, looking embarrassed. Our mothers talked more than we did.

It wasn't until I was in the backseat of the car, swaying with the inertia from my father's weaving in and out of cars, that I thought of how Cody's mother's face had looked when my mother had mentioned men. Or husbands, to be more specific.

And come to think of it, I hadn't seen Cody's father at all. He wasn't at dinner or at breakfast, and we had come home right after school. It wasn't possible that he had come home late and left early, because when Cody and I had gone to Yolei's family's market, there hadn't been any new shoes at the door.

Something was going on – Cody was hiding something. But what was it?

Increased knowledge comes with a greater curiosity, and now that I'd seen Cody's house and had investigated this part of him, I needed to learn his family's secrets – without him catching onto mine.

-x-

Ooh secrets! Next chapter is TK's, called "the sex talk." xDD!

Please review!!! 8D And I shall update faster, muahaha.


	35. thirtythree:the sex talk:tk

Hey everyone! Yay, I'm updating as promised! Hopefully this will help you guys get back into the other plotline. Originally the party was going to be a lot longer but Cody and Ken got in the way, so I had the main characters leave earlier as it raged on all night and Kyo and Miku and everyone got drunker and drunker and stoned and drunker. o-o;

Thank you so much to the reviewers of the last chapter: **ARCtheElite**, **Umeplumblossom**, **Oo-Violetmoon-oO**, and **JusTheUnderdog** (who actually reviewed the chapter before but it's at the top so OH WELL. xD)

**ARCtheElite:** I'm glad to see you like my stories! ^^ _The Pyramid of Darkness_ hasn't been updated in forever, I know. D: I kind of got a little stuck on Part II, because I feel that most everything I say about Sora is going to be repetitive. But there will only be one more "boring" chapter before they are called back to the Digital World to collect a Dimension Stone – sneak peek! o: Is it bad I call the romance plotline chapters boring? xD I originally wanted the fic to have 100 chapters but now I'm like… 50 will do. So I need to find a way to make those chapters "interesting" for me to write I guess. I think when I get to Part III and IV it'll be easier, because Kari and Rika are my favorite characters like ever. xD Wow I talk a lot, I'm sorry. o-o; Anyway, thank you for reading and I really hope to update it soon! In the meantime, you can check out another one of my fics if you like. ;D _It's All in the Cards_ is a Digimon one with these characters, and _The Parent Untrap_ is a (newly-updated!) fic about Rika and Ryo. End of shameless promotion! xDD

**Umeplumblossom:** Aw, thank you so much! For the kind words and also the Wikipedia research! xD Shinai, huh? Ooh… that sounds so much cooler than a kendo stick. xD; I don't know why I never looked that up, considering it boggled my mind and Wikipedia is like my best friend. Anyway, thank you! ^^

**Oo-Violetmoon-oO:** xD! Just imagine Ken as Al Gore and that's basically how his energy conference was!

So here we are, with the chapter! Ooh, what happened after the party with Kari and Davis? Aren't you all dying to know? ;D I kind of am… o-o;

**:: thirty-three : the sex talk : tk ::**

I woke up around eleven on Saturday. My first thought upon waking was about Kari. Was she okay? She'd seemed pretty drunk at Kyo's party and I hoped Davis had gotten her home safely to Tai, who could take care of her.

I decided to call Kari and searched for my cell phone. It was on the ground in a pile of stuff… Jeez, I was getting just like Matt and Dad from living here. Or maybe I was just so annoyed that I had to leave the party early and couldn't help my friend that I'd just thrown all my stuff on the floor last night.

I grabbed my phone and sat up in my bed, running my hand through my hair. My poor hat was sitting over on my dresser near the window, looking lonely. Oh well. I kind of missed it, but Miku was probably right in that it made me look stupid.

Scrolling down to the number saved under 'Kari cell' in my phone, I pressed send. It went straight to voicemail. Her phone wasn't even on? This made me a little worried… I found the number Kari had given me to her home phone and called that one. It rang twice, then a guy's voice answered.

"Hello?" the voice asked, sounding tired.

"Um… Tai?" I asked. It didn't really sound like Tai, but who else would it be, right? Maybe he just sounded weird because I had woken him up by calling.

"No… This is Davis."

This was kind of a shock to me. Wasn't Tai home yet? And Davis – uh oh.

Davis liked Kari. And he was the one who had been with Kari when she'd gotten drunk. Was this some sort of elaborate plot of his to get Kari back to her house virtually helpless? Okay, probably not. Real people weren't that devious. And Davis didn't seem like the kind to create some elaborate plan anyway. I'd have to find out.

"Davis? Um… It's TK. I guess it's not my business to ask, but, uh…"

"Hey, TK. What?" Davis was still mumbling, as if he were tired.

"Uh, nothing." I was too curious, but I couldn't find a way to ask. "How's Kari?" That was more important, anyway.

"She's fine… Still sleeping."

"Tai hasn't gotten back yet?"

"Nope. Dude, I wouldn't expect him to be like this, you know? He's always way overprotective of Kari. So why's he just go off and leave her at some party? Especially when he knows their parents are away for the weekend?"

"Maybe he thought her friends would take care of her instead of getting her drunk," I blurted out angrily. Oops. Hadn't meant to say that. Ah well, it was going to have to be said anyway. I was sure that Davis felt guilty. Unless, of course, it was part of his plan all along…

"What? Are you blaming me for this?"

"You were with her when she got drunk," I accused.

"Fine. It's all my fault. I'm _sorry_, okay? You're not Tai, why do you hafta be all mad at me too? I thought we were, like, friends or something."

I suddenly felt bad. Okay, sure he might have been the one to get her drunk, but maybe he didn't realize how much she was drinking. He probably already felt guilty enough. He was right, I _wasn't_ Kari's brother. I had only known her for a week, anyway. That wasn't long enough to even be this worried about her. I still wanted her to be better, but accusing Davis didn't help anything.

"Sorry, Davis… I just wish I could have done more, but Matt made me go home."

"Yeah." He yawned. "Don't worry, though. I'm taking care of her. Besides, Kari's fine now. She was great last night."

My eyes widened. Then he _had_ had sex with her? "Uh… well… that's, um, great!" I said awkwardly. What was I supposed to tell him? I hoped it wasn't something Kari would regret. She had been drunk, but maybe it was something she wanted to do as well. She just didn't seem like that kind of girl to me, but then again, I didn't know her very well. I'd been spending a lot of my time with her at school and a little outside of school, but I had to remember that I didn't know her like Miku, Kaoru, or Davis did. I didn't even know her as well as Matt did.

"Yeah. Hopefully she's not too hung over. Hangovers suck, you know?"

I didn't, because I'd never been drunk before. I'd had drinks, but I'd never let myself go overboard. "So I hear," I said.

"Never had one? Lucky," he said. "Dude, how come some people just don't get them? What's your secret?"

"Um, not having too much to drink."

"Oh, I get it."

"Yeah. It's kind of like how the only way to completely protect yourself against STDs is through abstinence." Hint, hint, Davis!

"Yeah? What about condoms?"

"They don't protect against all of them." I still didn't like the idea, even if he did use a condom. What if he was taking advantage of Kari? What if he already had? "Besides, they can break!"

"Yeah, that sucks." A huge yawn.

"What? It's happened to you?" Oh god, he probably got Kari pregnant. Did he get Kari pregnant? I felt so responsible. I should have told Matt to go home alone and I could have taken Kari home! Instead of Davis!

"Uh, no," he said wearily. "I haven't – "

"You haven't used a condom before? What the hell is wrong with you?" I was getting mad again now. "You know, it's not like you can just take advantage of girls you get drunk and then not even use a condom. The first part is bad enough, but you're just a dumbass if you don't use protection!"

"What? TK, I – "

"And if you've slept with as many girls as everyone says you have, you probably are crawling with STDs! Which you give to everyone else you do it with. Including Kari! Did you even _know_ that, Davis?"

"But I – "

"If you gave Kari STDs, or got her pregnant, or even took advantage of her being drunk, I swear I will – "

"TK! I don't know why you think I did, but I didn't have sex with Kari!"

I stopped talking. "Oh. Um. Good."

"Dude, you think I'm all nasty from other girls? Man, I'm a _virgin_."

"Oops. Uh, my mistake." I realized that any guy who used the term 'nasty from other girls' had to be a virgin.

"And why do you even care so much about what I do or did or whatever with Kari? You don't like her. You like Miku, which is crazy of you, but your loss. Not like Kari likes you anyway. But whatever, why do you care?"

"Because," I said, and it sounded kind of lame even to me. "I'm her friend. And if anything bad happened last night after the party, I'd feel bad for not being able to take Kari home."

"There," Davis said, still sounding tired. "You feel guilty so you're trying to blame other people for everything. People who are innocent. Like me."

"Um. I guess that could be it."

"Trust me, I'm a philanthropist."

I thought a moment. "A psychologist?"

"Whatever. Anyway, what you need to do is stop blaming me and just realize that your blaming others comes from your own guilt. I didn't have sex with Kari, okay?"

"Okay," I said. I felt relieved. "Wait, but what about when you said she was great last night?"

"What? I meant that she was getting over being drunk already. Dude!"

"Uh, sorry."

"I need to sleep," he said. "Seeya later."

I nodded. "Okay," I said again. "Bye, Davis."

"Oh, one thing, actually."

"Yeah?"

"I didn't have sex with Kari, but I _did_ kiss her."

I dropped my phone, not even caring that the battery was knocked out on collision with the floor.

-x-

WOAH! Startling revelation there, huh? Hmm… I hope the Takari fans don't beat me with a shinai! xD Then again, TK is being all concerned for Kari, so maybe that trumps a kiss? –hides-

The next chapter is called "real friends" and features Yolei. Again, diversion from the party plotline but it was a lot of fun for me to write so I hope it's fun to read too. This last chapter was really fun to write as well, so I hoped you liked it!

Please **_REVIEW_**!!!


	36. thirtyfour:real friends:yolei

Hey everyone. C:

This is going to be a _long_ author's note. xD; Be prepared! It's **really important to the story**, so please at least skim it!

The first thing is that somehow, I completely forgot to upload a chapter. I know, I'm terrible!!! Please, go back and read chapter 31. It shouldn't take you long. c: I wrote it forever ago and for some reason I forgot to upload it! Ugh. So please go read that and come back here to read the rest. ^^ You can respond to that chapter in a review for that chapter, or... if you already have? Then review erm... another one? Oh, I'm so confused! This throws everything off. I'm sorry. :C But please go read it!

...-waits-. xD

OH YOU'RE BACK COOL.

I want to sincerely apologize for my ignorance. D: When I started this story, I knew little to nothing about the Japanese school system, imagining that it would probably be the same kind of education system I knew about – the "western" one. Erk. I was wrong. xD;

In an attempt to make this fic more realistic and culturally competent, I will be making some changes to it. Mostly changes just about the scheduling and such, as I can't actually learn much more about Japanese school on the internet. Most of it has to come from personal experience, and obviously I have none. Anyway, I'll make some awkward list below of things that will be changing!

**1. There will be three years, not four.** One of the things I learned was that Japanese high schools have only three grades, not four like my high school had. I know, I'm ignorant, right?? xD; So, although I have mentioned "sophomores" before, they will become nonexistent. o-o; Starting in this chapter! I know, maaaajor story ugliness. Maybe once I've finished the fic I'll go back and rewrite those parts. Anyway, this also means that Tai, Sora, Matt, and Mimi (along with Joe, who isn't even supposed to be there anyway with a four-year system!) aren't supposed to be around anymore. Erm… for this, I'm just gonna pretend they're the same age as Izzy and will be graduating with him. ^^; Please nobody kill me.

**2. The school year will be from April to March.** Yeah… I don't know why I thought everyone had to have summer breaks in between school years. Oops… Anyway, this doesn't change it that much, and this part I see no way to rewrite. Of course, I could do this, but it changes a bunch of the timeline things that will be coming up soon. I guess I could just say many weeks and months passed by quickly. o-o; I dunno. Still, they were all talking about summer vacation, so yeah.

**3. All the characters will be a year older.** Yeah. Major problem, huh? I'm…terrible. ;~; But since it's three years, they're all starting as fifteen, not fourteen. Except for Cody. Oh lord. That's gonna give me a headache.

Other things will probably be changing too… I suck, huh? Again, I'm really really sorry about this and I hope you don't think I'm too much of an ignorant American! D:

…the good news is that there will be a cultural festival coming up soon! xD;

Now… onto happier things that don't make me cry from frustration/stupidity! 8D

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: **JusTheUnderdog, Depthmon, Chaos Blademaster, Umeplumblossom, pranksta-4-lyf, **and **Oo-Violetmoon-oO**. Thank you guys so much! I hope you all continue to read and like this story even though it's all crazy and weird now. xD;

So you guys have said that you like Yolei, Kari, Davis, and TK's chapters the most. That's the exact same for me! xD It really must reflect it as I write them. I think I have the most fun writing Yolei's chapters, because her character is really fun and can be crazy (same with Davis). And as Kari and TK are my favorite Digidestined OF ALL TIME (xD), they're fun to write too.

So Ken and Cody chapters aren't very fun to read, huh? I dunno… I always kind of get writers' block with them. I need to invent some more interesting plotlines with them, I think. Plus, Ken is so smart and my vocabulary is so tiny that it's hard to write from his point of view! I'm like hunched over my thesaurus… Well… not really… it's all online. o-o; Oh well!

Time to stop ranting. Seriously, this is gonna get longer than the freaking chapter! xD

I hope all your questions are answered by the following chapters. ^^

**:: thirty-four : real friends : yolei ::**

"Yolei, I saw you talk to her. Are you joining the dark side or something?" Saku asked me, pointing her soda cup at me accusingly.

"No!" I protested. This wasn't what I had to talk to them about! But apparently all they cared about in my life was how I had been talking to Kari. I admit, it had been a little weird. But I'd been in such a good mood on Friday that I couldn't help it. I must have known that soon I would have my romantic date at the store with Ken and realize that we were destined to be together. I was trying to tell them about our fate, but they just kept talking about Kari, Miku, and the cutesy little dumb one, whatever her name is! "But who cares, cause – "

"I think _we_ might be the dark side," Aya told Saku reflectively. "I mean, can you really see them as evil? No way. They're all too preppy and bright and happy to be evil. I think we're the dark side."

"Why, cause we sit around bitching about people?" Saku asked. "That doesn't make us the dark side."

"The dark side's not necessarily evil," Aya pointed out. "For the good guys, sure the dark side might seem bad. But from the dark side, the good guys seem bad. Besides, the dark side always has better clothes and makeup and everything. Like us, compared to them."

"Fine," Saku said, rolling her eyes. "We're the dark side." She glared at me again, using her cup to point. A few droplets of soda fell from her straw onto my plum-colored sleeve. "Yolei, are you joining the good guys?" she demanded.

I shook my head again, annoyed at the fact that they didn't care about my real concern. "Saku, please. I'd rather kiss Davis than be friends with Miku." They all nodded, agreeing with me. Aya's older brother was one of the soccer guys who hung out with Davis, so she knew firsthand how annoying he was. And Saku knew him from middle school. I hadn't known him then, but I told them many stories now. They knew how much I hated him, even though he wasn't so bad anymore because of his devoted obedience to me. Speaking of that, I'd have to start thinking about what I should have him do for me…

We were sitting in the food court at the mall again. We came to the mall a lot, but Saku said it was just to be ironic. We were not mall people. Aya hated everything that had to do with conformity and mediocrity, and Saku just hated everything that had to do with Miku or other annoying bitches like her. I was kind of both.

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I like this new guy…" I said with a smile, dabbing my French fry in ketchup. Finally, I got to tell them! I'd tried last night when I was hanging out with them, but Saku had gotten a phone call from the guy _she_ liked. He was hot, but kind of insane or something. His name was Raoul and he was a transfer student from France. He didn't speak Japanese very well, and he was always doing these weird gestures, like he was dancing or something. I looked down at my fry to see it was soaked in ketchup. It was barely anything but a mound of red goo anymore. Oh well. I ate it anyway.

"I wish we didn't like guys," Aya said mournfully, tapping her wine red nails on the plastic table. "Girls are much better than guys. Don't you wish we were lesbians?"

Saku nodded. "Definitely. If we were lesbians, we wouldn't have to interact with guys at all." She smiled as if that were a perfect life.

"We don't really have to now," Aya said. "Can we avoid them for the rest of our lives?"

Saku hesitated, realizing something. "What about Raoul?"

Aya shrugged. "I don't think he counts. He's French. French is the language of love, so he speaks that instead of the language of sex like all other guys."

"What about English?" I asked. "Cause Ken doesn't really seem like he's a regular sex-obsessed guy."

"Wait, yeah, tell us about him," Saku said. "Is he American?"

"No." I couldn't help but smile. Favorite topic time! "He's really cute," I said. "He's Japanese, but he went to boarding school in England until now. He's basically a genius, and it's kind of hard to talk to him because you have to pull all these big words out of your ass. But you can have such good conversations with him too… He's so smart. He's really nice too. And he's so amazingly hot."

Saku grinned. "Awesome!" she said. "So he just transferred to O.H.?"

"Why anyone would come from an English boarding school to our poor excuse for a high school is a mystery to me," Aya said cynically.

"Well, he didn't really transfer. He just came back home, and this is his high school." Oh no. Was I going to have to tell them… his age? That he was a freshman? Crap crap crap!

"I haven't seen him in any of my classes," Saku said. "He's a genius, you said, though, right? Is he in all the senior classes?"

_You can do it, Yolei. Just avoid the subject of his age and whatnot!_ I nodded. "Yeah! I swear, he's smarter than like _all_ the seniors and he's just a freshman!"

…_are you serious?_

My best friends stared at me, eyes opened wide. Aya glanced at Saku, who just seemed mad. Or possibly completely confused. They'd both heard my tirades on how much I hated freshmen.

"A… freshman?" Saku repeated. "Yolei. I know this whole getting-left-behind thing has been getting to you. But you can't like a _freshman_, no matter how cute and/or smart he is. You might be a technical freshman, but you're a junior at heart."

I sighed. "I know… It's like forbidden love or something."

Aya nodded enthusiastically. Not that she's ever really enthusiastic about anything. "You're forbidden to be together! Star-crossed lovers! Romeo and Juliet! This is so amazing, Yolei."

"Romeo and Juliet would be Yolei and Kari falling in love," Saku corrected. I snorted, and she just smirked at me. "What? Remember how much better it would be if we didn't have these terrible emotional binds to guys? If we didn't have to ever talk to them again?"

"If one of us was the Montagues and the other the Capulets, who would we be?" Aya asked. "Meaning if it was us and Miku's group."

"We'd be the Capulets," Saku said decisively. "They threw all the good parties."

"We don't throw parties," Aya argued. "We hate parties because we hate everyone else in our school besides us, remember? If we were ever to even go to a party, it would be to crash it."

"Well, there. The Montagues crashed that party, so we're the Montagues."

"Can we please get back to my problem here?" I asked, exasperated. "I like a _freshman_. As in underage! Minor! Illegal!"

"You're barely sixteen," Aya mentioned, but I just glared at her.

"Here's what you have to do. Spend this whole year getting close to him and become close friends. Then next year you can make your move," Saku advised.

"But he's too cute! What if a real freshman nabs him?" I wailed. "A real freshman who's actually pretty?"

"Don't start this whole 'I'm not pretty' thing again," Saku growled. "And no real freshman will nab him because you'll be his guardian. We'll help you."

Aya nodded. "We'll watch over him constantly! If some girl even looks in his direction, we'll take care of her."

I stared at them. "You'd help me be his stalker?" I asked, touched. "You guys would do that for me?"

"Of course," Saku said like it was nothing. "We're your _friends_, Yolei. Man, you really have been hanging out with Miku's clone too much. You forgot what real friends are."

"Thanks! You guys are the best friends ever," I said. I was so grateful to have friends like them, who would help me just because they _were_ my friends.

"Plus I want to have some good deep conversations with him," Aya said. "I love deep conversations."

"Plus I want to see how hot he is," Saku mentioned. "I love hot guys!"

Ah, yes. Ulterior motives. Oh well – they were going to help me guard Ken from all the evil man-stealing freshmen until he was old enough for me to date!

I was almost glad I'd been held back.

…yeah, that was facetious.

-x-

Anyone catch me calling Yolei a "junior at heart"? Yeah, step one of my Japanifying their school. I don't think I said this above: in case you don't know, the three Japanese high school grades are freshman (first-year), junior (second-year), and senior (third-year). Yeah, I know. Just subtract the sophomore and we're good to go! xD

Next chapter features Cody but I have no idea what the title will be. Weird huh? Anyway… Please **_review_**! 8D


	37. thirtyfive:sunday, sex, and senpai:cody

Hey there everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, and also went back to read chapter 31. Just to make myself clear/repeat myself, it was left out before, so please do read it or else some things won't make sense!

Thank you so much, lovely reviewers of last chapter, aka **JusTheUnderdog, Oo-Violetmoon-oO, Madame Pika, agroxneko, Chaos Blademaster, sunflowers, flamealchemist15, Depthmon, Paulagirl, **and **Pickledevil**. ^^

Specifics:  
**Madame Pika:** Wow, thank you so much for all that information! (files it away) It's really helpful for "converting" this fic and also in other fics I'm writing. That's a really detailed sheet your Japanese teacher told you – I wish I could take Japanese! But I'm terrible at languages… I will try to make school (at least for the third years! xD) more intense and realistic. Anyway, all your information was a big help and I hope I can get all the details right!  
**flamealchemist15:** Yes, there will be a sports festival. C: And as for their homerooms, their school is weird and "experimental" so their homerooms are really just their Seminar Groups. For bigger events where more people are needed, Seminar Groups join together based on a random selection. xD  
**Pickledevil:** Thanks for reading! ^^ And reviewing three times. C: Yolei does have siblings, but they still haven't appeared in the fic. o-o; Weird huh? I think I remember her being the oldest, so maybe one of them will be a freshman next year. All the things on the little surveys were intentional, though for the life of me I can't remember why I had Cody leaving out his last name. Maybe because he was nervous and forgot that he was in a much bigger school? I seriously can't remember. xD But Davis isn't a good speller, and if you notice grammatical mistakes in his chapters, that's because it's his "voice" too. xD

Okay, chapter time!

**:: thirty-five : sunday, sex, and senpai : cody ::**

It was Sunday afternoon and I had just finished practicing kendo with my grandfather. He was right, I _had_ had enough time to practice and get all my homework done even though Ken had slept over on Friday.

It was funny how often Grandfather was right.

Anyway, I'd been thinking a lot over the weekend. Big surprise, right? All I ever did was think. But this was different. Even while I was practicing with Grandfather, I just kept remembering Friday night. Saturday morning? It was so… so… different. From what I was used to, and from the basic direction of my life so far.

I'd never snuck out of my house before. I didn't think I ever would. I thought that that whole kind of world was so far beyond me – _Cody_! Was I still the same person? I kept replaying it over in my head. But it wasn't like I was watching my own actions. The only way for me to actually understand it was through someone else's eyes.

Cody Cody Cody. The good little boy who still got red when other people talked about sex; the one who did all his homework and ate his vegetables and always went to sleep before eleven (wasn't that late?). Yes, _that_ Cody had snuck out of the apartment at some ungodly hour of the night with his _friend_ – he had friends? – and had gone down a few blocks to a 24-hour convenience store where he'd actually bought ice cream (yes, he'd had it that late!), talked to a girl (sort of), and maybe, just _maybe_ acquired his first crush.

When I looked at it objectively like that, it made more sense. Even the crush part.

I'd been thinking more about that, too.

I'd decided that maybe it was a little bit of a crush. Maybe just a tiny one. But what was wrong with that, anyway? Other people got crushes. Other people went out with other people! Other people married other people and had babies with other people and those babies did the whole cycle all over again, all with other people! It was only natural to have a crush. If you looked at it as just a way of furthering human existence, it wasn't something weird or foreign. Everyone who was human must have had feelings like that!

Wait… Furthering human existence?

That meant… reproduction.

Sex.

…I didn't want to have _sex_ with Yolei! No way! I was too young! That was just… I mean… maybe someday… When I was older, and she was, and, um, we'd been boyfriend and girlfriend for a very long time, and we loved each other fully and completely, and then graduated from high school and college, or whatever it was we ended up doing, and had well-established careers, and met each others' families and gotten married?

…Now I sound like a pervert for thinking about that kind of thing!

Okay. Erase all that. Please! I'm not a pervert! And the fact that I was, right now, heading down to Yolei's family's store just meant we were a little low on milk. It had nothing to do with whatever feelings I had for her!

I opened the door and stepped inside. I remember seeing my face on the glass as I entered the convenience store; it was too eager, and my cheeks were pink, and I looked so, so young. Much younger than Yolei did.

Not that she was there, or anything.

…I have to admit, I was a little disappointed.

A woman who looked a lot like Yolei, but older (I guess that's obvious, because I called her a woman, and Yolei was still just a girl, right, even though she was older than me) smiled at me from behind the counter. The store was empty, except for her. "Hello there!"

My face turned even redder as a though occurred to me. Uh oh. It was her mom! This wasn't considered meeting her family or anything, right? I wasn't ready to go to that level yet! No, this couldn't be happening at my young age!

I'm kind of ashamed at what I did next.

…really ashamed.

It was because the whole meeting families thing was on my mind. I turned and ran out of the store as fast as I could.

Yeah, truthfully.

I was running away so fast that I nearly crashed into a group of older boys. I came close, anyhow, and had to stop short. They were all glaring at me.

I recognized them from school.

"Look, it's Odaiba High's baby," one of them said, mockingly. Because I didn't already know how young I was! Still, it didn't make me feel horribly ecstatic to hear.

"I'm surprised he's let out of the house alone," said another.

"Well, even though he's just a little kid he's supposedly some genius."

"Not smart enough to learn how to act like a real high school student, huh?" another one asked.

I had no idea what to say. My stomach hurt. They were all so tall, and seemed so much older than I. You know that feeling, when you're in school? Even though someone's just a grade older than you, it seems like they're in a whole different universe. They're _older_. Well, that was how it was for me, only to a much greater extent. They were probably three years my senior.

I guess the term "why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" had never occurred to them. Just my luck.

"Not old enough to learn how to talk, huh?"

"…Excuse me," was all I could muster. I tried to step around them, but, like an army, they prevented me from it. They almost created a _wall_.

"Learn some manners," one of them spat. "Don't you know we're older? We're superior to you, stupid little freshman! Not that you're a real freshman anyway."

"Sorry… _Senpai_." There, that should make him happy. How was I going to get out of this?

"It's Hayashi-_senpai_, stupid. What, you don't know my name? I heard you were some kind of _kendoka_." His words were cold. He seemed really… threatening.

"Yes, _senpai_." My heart was beating fast. He told me his name, but I had a feeling he didn't actually want me saying it.

"Come on, Satoshi, let's get out of here," one of the boys said. It looked like he was easily bored.

"This little kid here actually thinks he's a _kendoka_!" Satoshi Hayashi snorted. "How can he even pick up a _shinai_? He's too small!"

His friends chuckled. But it seemed they obviously wanted to leave. I didn't even know how this guy had heard about me. It's not like I was famous! I was invisible Cody. And why did it matter that I was a kendo student?

"Let's go. I think the baby needs to have his diaper changed."

They stalked off, sneering. Thankfully! I hurried past them, telling myself to breathe normally or they might really make fun of me.

Why did some upperclassmen know about me and practically hate me? What had I done? Right then, I was just too relieved that they were gone to worry about this.

I half-walked, half-jogged all the way home, my heart thumping in a kind of irregular way the whole time.

-x-

Poor Cody. D: Next chapter features Davis, and hopefully supplies some details with the night of the party! It doesn't have a name yet. Yeesh, I'm sucking at that lately. D: Please review!


	38. thirtysix:monday, monday:davis

Dear readers,

How are you all this lovely January morning? Is anyone as excited for Tuesday as I am? 8D Okay… sorry to bring up politics. I swear I'm not trying to start any political fights! Please don't stop reading _Fast Times_! I swear the actual fic is nonpartisan. xD I just had to mention it, haha.

Moving on quickly!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: **Oo-Violetmoon-oO, ARCtheElite, Madame Pika, Potgenie,** and **flamealchemist 15**. C:

Specifics:

**MadamePika:** Well, your Japanese is much better than mine! I can't say… er, anything! xD And even in English those are easily confusable words… PE is physical education; economics is fiscal education! 8D Aw, I'm sorry to hear you think it's going downhill. Any specific reasons why? I'll do my best to change them!

**smile-in-ur-sleep:** Thank you for reviewing too, by the way. ^^ The whole London remark shows that although Ken thinks he's Ultra Erudite, he's really not as smart as he thinks he is… Muahaha… Make the characters take the blame for your mistakes… xD

**flamealchemist15:** Do you mean with which groups/homeroom-type things? For that, the Seminar Groups serve as the sort of homerooms. But for bigger events, like the culture festival for example, they band together with other SGs. However, they'd break up the work between the SGs; for example, if they were designing a set for a play, one SG would get the backdrops and paint them, one would get props and costumes, and one would do lighting and sound. Just an example! There might be more than three SGs working together. I hope that's what you meant. If not… I'm sorry for wasting your time! xD

Here we go! Everything in italics is a flashback. I mean, it's kind of straightforward, but just in case. ^^

**:: thirty-six : monday, monday : davis ::**

"_I have K," Kari said._

"_I know one!" I said, excited about it. It was her name, after all. She'd think I was a genius._

"What?" Kari asked. She seemed like she really didn't know. Oh well, she was pretty out of it.

_I looked at Kari, trying to make her even more curious, then said it. "Kari!" I smiled at her._

"_I have a better one," Kari said, though she'd smiled when I'd said it too._

_Aw, man. I guess I wasn't such a genius after all. "Yeah?" I asked. "What is it?"_

"_K for kiss," she said. Then she tilted her head up to mine and kissed me. My eyes widened. I hadn't been expecting that! But, uh, it was okay that it was unexpected. I mean, sometimes the unexpected turns out to be really, really, really good (and I could keep going with those reallys for a really, really, really long time)._

_When she broke away from me, she was smiling and I was still kind of shocked. I mean, I usually wasn't that surprised or frozen or anything when a girl kisses me, but I totally thought she wasn't into me after Kyo's party when she had been about to kiss him. She had been drunk, though… Or was she just drunk now?_

"_Davis," she murmured. "Um, I feel sick again." Before I could react, Kari had thrown up all over my shirt._

"_Oops!" she cried. "I'm so sorry!"_

_It was nasty, but it wasn't like she could have done anything. "Um… it's okay," I said. "I'll just have to take it off," I said with a grin._

_She giggled. "I won't peek!"_

_I took off my shirt and tried to wash it in the ocean water. It worked a little bit, but it still needed to be actually washed. Embarrassed, I put it back on._

"_We have a washing machine at our apartment," Kari said. "And we're close now. Let's hurry before I throw up all over your pants too!" She sent me a wicked look. "Not that that would be so terrible." She took my hand and ran down the beach, laughing. Her shoes dangled in one hand._

-x-

After spending the night at Kari's house, I was officially the happiest guy in the world. No, I hadn't had sex with her like TK thought. But I'd _kissed_ her. And after we got back to her apartment, she was almost completely fine. She didn't get sick anymore, anyway.

-x-

"Don't peek!" Kari exclaimed. I covered my eyes with my hands and though I was sorely tempted to peek as she changed into pajamas, I didn't. "Okay, all done!"

Kari hopped into her bed. I had grabbed some futon from the Kamiyas' closet and thrown it on the ground next to her. I wanted to be close in case she got sick again.

"_Tai's shirt is too big for you," she said with a smile. "It's cute. And I like your boxers…"_

_My shirt was in the washing machine and I wore one of Tai's, along with my boxers that had Santa Claus faces all over them. I made sure to button up the front really good. Just in case. I mean, I _was_ sleeping in the same room as the girl I liked…_

"_Davis, I like being with you," she said, yawning._

_I smiled up at her from my futon. It wasn't comfortable at all, but I didn't care much. "Hey, I like being with you too," I told her._

"_Can we always stick together?" Kari asked._

"_Sure," I said. What did that mean? Was she… asking me out, or something? "I had a really fun time with you tonight… Minus you being sick and the thing with Kyo and whatever. I hope we can do something else together soon… Maybe just the two of us this time? Um, like a movie, or to get food or something?"_

"_Yeah! It's fun just the two of us! And I love movies and food!" Kari said with a smile. "And this can be our first thing! This fun sleepover… Let's stay up late! All night!"_

"_Are you sure you're not tired?" I asked._

"_Not at all!" Kari exclaimed. Then, she immediately fell asleep._

_I smiled. I'd asked her out, and she'd said yes! I could barely believe it… Kari was my girlfriend? It seemed sudden, but every other girl I'd asked out immediately started calling themselves my girlfriend. This time I didn't mind of course! Kari was different._

_I watched her sleep, knowing I was the luckiest guy in the world…_

_-_x_-_

It was lunch on Monday now and I decided to make the journey to Kari's table. I hadn't really gotten to talk to her much today on the walk to school. That whole thing was pretty weird, to say the least. Tai was out sick, as Kari said, and it was weird walking with Yamato without Tai. Oh well. Miku was acting all lovey-dovey with TK, and Kari and Kaoru were all arm-linked together, the two of them talking to Yamato about how hard senior year was already. I wondered why Kari wasn't acting all lovey-dovey with me, like the stupid couple over there was! But then again… as far as I could tell, I was her first boyfriend. I did a lot of thinking during class before lunch.

If I was her first boyfriend, and she was kind of shy about things anyway, maybe I needed to be more assertive? To kind of make the first move in looking like a couple? I decided to do this at lunch!

"Hey, Kari!" I said, sitting down between her and Kaoru at their usual table.

"Hi, Davis," she said. "I was just telling everyone about Saturday morning." She giggled. "Anyway, he tried to make pancakes for me, but they burned… And the fire alarm went off."

I felt embarrassed, but at least Kari was feeling better.

"And I felt sick, so the smell of burning pancakes and the fire alarm's noise – it was really loud – kind of killed my brain or something."

"So I had to open all the windows and get rid of the smell, reset the alarm, and get out the cereal." I shrugged with a grin. "Should have stuck to what I knew how to do."

Miku sighed. "In your case, Davis, that's about nothing."

"At least I know how to take care of my friends," I said. Okay, that came out a little more intense than I thought it would. Oh well, it was true! Face the facts, psycho bitch from hell who's basically not even hot anymore!

"Excuse me?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"Hey, here comes TK!" Kari exclaimed, and Miku forgot about me entirely.

I smiled at Kari – my girlfriend. _Girlfriend! _That took some getting used to. Well, sort of. I'd had a lot, I guess. I leaned towards her, cupping my hand around her ear. "You're so cute," I whispered to her, being assertive!

She gave me a faint smile. "Um, thanks, Davis," she replied. She looked a little weirded out, like maybe she didn't want me to say those kinds of things in public? Well, I'd whispered it, right? Oh well. I guess it was kind of random. Maybe she was really shy about these things.

"Hi everyone," TK said, sitting down beside Miku. "Davis, you joined the girls' table? I must have started a new trend!"

"Hey, Reverend Abstinence… Uh, I mean TK," I said with a grin. It was stupid, but he knew what I was talking about – the phone call, of course!

TK laughed. "Hey, STDavis. Any more condoms break?"

Miku looked annoyed, and everyone else just looked confused. I remember how mad Miku got when there was an inside joke she wasn't part of. Well, she wasn't part of this, so I would keep it going as long as I could.

"Condoms?" I asked. "What the hell are those? I just get girls pregnant!"

"Okay, shut up, you two," Miku said grouchily.

"Why?" I asked, smirking at her.

"Oh, never mind," Miku suddenly said. "Hey, TK, I forgot to tell you… We saw the sexiest guy ever the other day! Remember?" she asked Kari and Kaoru.

Kaoru nodded, smiling. "The one from Italy?" she asked.

Miku cackled. "Yeah! The one who was like, 'Beautiful girls, help me the phone find'."

Kari giggled. "Oh yeah, him!"

"Wasn't he so hot?" Miku asked.

Kari nodded. "Yeah… I have to admit, he was pretty cute."

Miku smiled at me and I suddenly understood. She was just trying to get back at me! Did she know I liked Kari? Uh wait. Kari had probably told her we were going out, right? They _were_ best friends, after all. Sometimes I just focus on Kari so much I forget about the horrible Miku. I looked at TK to see his face had fallen too.

With Miku as Kari's best friend, would I ever get to spend any alone time with my girlfriend?

…

Ugh! I couldn't worry about that hag messing up our perfect relationship right now. I had other things to worry about, like the soccer team! Our positions would be posted that day after school. Monday passed by even slower than Mondays usually do. I couldn't sit still through any of my classes! I could only think of how great it would be to get out of class, run to go see the list, and then run to my beautiful girlfriend to tell her the great news – I was backup center forward! And next year… real center forward! Awesome. Kari would be overjoyed.

I could just imagine our wonderful future together! Me out, all over the world, playing soccer professionally. Making a miraculous winning goal in the World Cup! Coming home to the lovely Hikari Motomiya and a bunch of little kids who looked just like us. I was sure that she'd prefer to stay home and take care of our kids. After all, I'd be rich and famous! Sometime during the height of my glory, there'd be a knock at the door of our Tokyo mansion: Miku! Old and withered, worn out from a life on the streets selling her basically not even hot anymore body to the seedy underbelly. She'd beg me to take her back, to save her! I'd just laugh in her face. Because who needed her when I had Kari?

_Riiing._

Eh? Daydream over – school was out!

I thought I'd be the first to arrive, I ran there so fast. But there was already a large group of guys milling around the boys' locker room, yelling happily and not-so-happily.

"Dammit!" came one guy, a junior, who I vaguely knew (he wasn't very good, but it still made me worried!). He passed me, then stopped. "Hey, tough break, man. Ah, but you're still on the team, yeah? Pfft! Better than me!" He continued on. Probably to break more hearts.

I shoved my way to the front. It couldn't be true. I had to be the backup center-forward! I found it, heart beating super fast, then my eyes traced a bunch of annoying periods until I saw the name. Big, in bold letters.

EBISAWA ATSUSHI.

No way. It wasn't me? But… I was one of Tai's best friends! I was going out with his little sister! Besides…

Who the hell was this guy anyway? I'd never heard of him. He definitely hadn't tried out for the position! I remembered distinctly; only Ken and I had. Hmm… Ken…

I saw him walking away, and hurried after him.

"Ken! Hey! What the hell, man? What the _hell_?" I guess I couldn't really keep the anger out of my voice. I thought he'd want to commiserate with me. Us together! We could make a difference in the way soccer was organized here! We could stage a rebellion together!

"Excuse me?" he asked. Cold as usual.

"Did you see the list?"

"Yes…"

"Neither of us got the position!"

"I'm aware."

…what was wrong with him? Did he not even _want_ it? "What about neither of us not getting the position means you're okay with it?"

He was silent for a moment.

"Answer me!" I was pretty mad.

"I was just trying to decode your sentence of horrible grammar," he drawled. Acting superior as usual!

"Never mind!" I spat. That kid had a permanent _kendo stick_ up his butt! Where did he get off acting like I was just so horrible to be around? I happened to be one of the most popular freshman there was at Odaiba High. And it's not like he beat me at soccer, either – he didn't get the position or anything!

Hmm. Wait. That was probably it! I was sure I was really supposed to get the position, but Ken was this big genius guy from England so everyone at the school – in charge of it and stuff – loved him. They couldn't disappoint him by naming little old underachiever me backup center-forward. So they picked some random other guy who did well in school! And probably blamed it on seniority. That must have been it!

I'd find out the next time I talked to my girlfriend's brother.

…speaking of my girlfriend, where was she? Maybe she could console me in my time of despair!

-x-

Oh Davis.

Anyway, next chapter features Kari and doesn't have a name yet… Again. Ergh, I suck!

Time to close this letter! o-o; Forgot it was a letter, didn't you? I almost did too. xD

Love, Rea

PS: Please review!


	39. thirtyseven:the pants reference:kari

_EVERYONE. I'm so sorry for taking forever! Like, seriously, over a year. Bad Rea. ;-; I hope some of you are still around and that you don't hate me!_

_Things just got really, really crazy. Ahaha. ^^;_

_Starting college was more stressful than I thought, and there were several deaths in my family that happened in a very small timespan. I also went through a particularly difficult break up with my boyfriend of three years (difficult for me anyway xD). I'm with someone else now, and actually living in another country at the moment. But I just really had no time to update my stories on here. I feel bad though so here's a chapter I had written before, but wasn't uploaded yet. I really hope that I'll be able to get back into this story, and I apologize for my absence. D:_

_Without further ado... thank you to everyone who has kept reviewing despite my absence, and I hope you all enjoy the next (albeit brief) installment of Fast Times at Odaiba High._

**:: thirty-seven : the pants reference : kari ::**

Lunch in the girls' bathroom is never really very appetizing, especially with the healthy bento boxes my mom always makes. Although we're one of the few schools around that has a cafeteria, she insisted on making my lunch every day – along with Tai's. Eating her stringy tofu with the smell of cleaning fluid as an atmospheric benefit was not the best plan.

But I couldn't help it! I was completely exhausted by Davis' weird behavior lately. I mean, he was acting like we were best friends when we'd hardly known each other that long. I felt bad, but he was just being so… suffocating!

Naturally, Miku and Kaoru were not overly pleased with our location. My tall, blonde friend had contented herself with skipping food to complain that her roots were showing. She stood in front of the mirror, pawing through her light, curled locks, which had darkened just a tiny bit at her scalp.

Kaoru and I were eating at the same time as we squatted with our backs against the wall – basically a competition to see who could stay that way the longest. I lost, but it was probably just due to Mom's terrible cooking! I finally couldn't take it anymore, and slid down the wall to rest on the cold floor. I was wearing tights, so it wasn't really _that_ gross…

"I just freaking dyed my hair! I can't believe I have to bleach it again so soon…?"

I wasn't really focusing on Miku's complaints, and barely consciously, made some kind of sigh. Thinking of Davis, of course. Boy-turned-stalker!

Miku whirled around, taking my tiny sigh to be dissension. "Look, Kari, you're lucky to have such light brown hair! I happen to be cursed with hair that's practically black!"

I didn't see what the big deal was. "It looks better when it's natural anyway…"

"Yeah!" Kaoru chimed in. "The darker look is coming back in!"

Miku rolled her eyes. "You two don't need to tell me about fashions. Dark hair will always be boring! I don't want everyone thinking I'm so _serious_!"

_It's just hair. Don't you care about my problems at all?_

I guess I didn't have any problems, really. I was just feeling kind of whiny and grumpy, because I was sick of Davis.

"I don't think anyone will think that!" Kaoru giggled. "Not after the party, anyway…"

Another thing for me to be annoyed about. I kept asking them about what had happened at the party once I'd left, but they'd just look at each other and start laughing. I hated those kinds of inside jokes! What, just cause I'd gotten a _tiny_ bit tipsy and had severe memory loss and had to be taken home meant that I was no longer part of our little group? Miku had been drunk tons of times before. I think. And Kaoru probably drank a little bit too…

"True, true," Miku mused, turning back to the mirror. "Maybe I should go jet-black! I'll be stunning and exotic-looking for when I go visit Europe this winter break…" _Lucky!_ She always said these things so nonchalantly too. It showed her sophistication… Compared to me, of course. The biggest trip I've ever gone on was to Hokkaido with my family. Mom kind of abandoned us to take pictures, and Dad lost all his luggage and had to buy all these weird new clothes. I'd tried to tag along with my mother (who had seemingly turned into a photographer overnight), but she told me to stay with my dad. So Tai and I were forced to tag around after him while he bought new clothes. We barely got to be tourists.

That was the extent of my travels. Very pathetic compared to Miku's…

"Tell me about the party!" I pleaded. "You guys haven't said anything about it so far…"

"Well, you haven't told us much about what happened with you and Davis! Jeez, you really must have seduced him or something to have him acting like your shadow now. I guess you were right, Kaoru, and Davis really _did_ like Kari. Does."

I laughed. "That's not it at all. Yeah… he's gotten a little annoying. But that's just cause we had fun. I guess we never really hung out alone before the party, and because of it we just got to know each other a little better."

"A whole _lot_ better!" Kaoru snickered. Um, what was that supposed to mean? Weird sex joke? A whole lot weirder considering our whole time together was extraordinarily platonic (and I say extraordinarily because I know his track record).

"Anyway, I already told you guys heaps about what happened. It's not that interesting. He walked me home, we went to sleep, he tried to make pancakes in the morning and failed, then he waited for Tai to get home in the afternoon before leaving."

"Where had Tai been all that time anyway?" Miku asked.

"Er… he wouldn't tell me. He looked _terrible_ though." I sighed. Stupid big brother! "He just laughed and said I was better off not knowing. Then he fell asleep for hours. He didn't even say anything about Davis having slept over, or the fact that I was obviously hungover!"

"Wow. That's crazy!" Kaoru cried. "He must have been doing something really important…"

"Or someone really slutty?" Miku suggested. "The only girls that guys love more than their sisters and mothers are hot, easy girls."

"Ew, I really don't want to think about that…" I gagged. Plus I didn't think it was something like that. Tai was so overprotective of me. He wouldn't leave me at some party just to have sex with some girl, would he? "So what happened after I left?" I begged.

Miku and Kaoru both laughed again. Ugh. "Well, I'm sure you heard about the obvious things, like all the most hilarious drunken incidents." I hadn't, but I didn't care so much about those. "Do you mean with us?"

"Yeah."

Another shared giggle. "Well! _Kaoru_ was off with the gorgeous Sato-senpai for most of the night."

Kaoru's eyes widened as she turned to me, obviously excited. "He told me to call him Naohiro… But if I wanted, _Nao_!" she squealed.

"Nao is to Naohiro as TK is to my darling boy," Miku sniffed. "A horrible nickname. Besides, Nao makes him sound like a girl."

"What'd you guys do?" I asked Kaoru, ignoring the fact that Miku had just said 'my darling boy.' I think I recalled her using that name for her cat. I wondered when she'd put a collar around TK's neck.

She blushed. "I thought he'd want to make out or something. I _hoped_! But it turns out he's actually really shy, so we just sat on Kyo's balcony and talked and talked. I mean, I guess he's not that shy about talking. He was at first, but after I said a lot, he started chiming in with all this stuff! He's so interesting! So different than how he seems he would be, with the soccer team and everything!"

"Yes, well, men usually act very different around other men, as opposed to when they're trying to get in your pants," Miku said wisely.

"Mmm… Yeah… I don't think he was trying to get into my pants, though, cause he definitely could have if he'd wanted to!" Kaoru laughed.

I balked. Thinking of my innocent friend as sexually active was just… wrong! "Kaoru, don't say these kinds of things!" I squeaked. "Whatever happened to you saving yourself for your husband on your wedding night and everything?"

"Well, Nao could always turn out to be my future husband, you never know!"

"Um… wedding night?"

Kaoru sighed. "Kari, don't be so uptight!" Wow. Sounded like a page out of Miku's book of life right there.

"Speaking of getting into someone's pants, you're seeing Takeru in your next class, right?" Miku asked me, wrapping a strand of her blonde hair around her finger.

Although I didn't know what that had to do with the whole pants reference, I nodded. Cautiously.

"Okay, cool. Could you maybe see if he's busy after school tomorrow?"

"Hmm. Tomorrow's Wednesday, right?" I asked, and Kaoru bobbed her head affirmatively. "Yeah, he should be. I mean, I'll check to be sure."

"Thanks!" Miku said gratefully, smiling at me.

It was then that I understood the pants reference. Yeesh.

-x-

_Please **review** if you're still around and reading this (or if you're a new reviewer). I just want to see if anyone is still reading this before I begin writing new chapters. If I do decide to write more, the next chapter will feature Ken and his blooming friendship with Cody. xD_

_I'm sorry again! D:_

_Love, Rea_


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